GOA Issues Letter to AG, FBI, ATF Over NICS Background Checks Delays

Interesting quotes:

"Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing and exacerbating the underlying constitutional infringements with the NICS system. If state or federal governments do not remain open, then Americans will be denied their Second Amendment-protected right to purchase firearms. The long-term solution is for Congress to repeal this law. But in the short-term, the federal government is faced with a choice: ignore the Brady Transfer Date, thus intimidating gun stores into denying Americans their rights, or reallocate resources so that Americans will not be denied their rightfully purchased firearms."

"Accordingly, GOA is concerned that Americans do not have “instant” access to firearms, in most cases, during this time in which Americans are demonstrating that they highly value their Second Amendment-protected rights."

"Accordingly, Gun Owners of America asks your office to rescind the posting on the NICS website, and to adopt the interpretation that, with respect to federal law,5 the three business day period begins to run when an FFL attempts to contact a POC state for a NICS check, and can be extended only by ordinary weekends and holidays, and not by a state decision to temporarily shutter its POC offices for some indeterminate period of time." [emphasis added]

"Third, exacerbating this situation, ATF has recently begun a campaign to use letters to eliminate the 18 U.S.C. § 922(t)(3) exemption for holders of concealed carry permits. ATF appears to be making a concerted effort to target all currently exempted states for unlawful elimination from the § 922(t)(3) exception. Gun Owners of America recently filed suit against ATF to stop this unlawful practice."

Read full letter