FBI and DOJ must ‘remove’ records on people pressured into waiving away gun rights, Republicans say

EXCLUSIVE — Republicans are demanding the Justice Department and FBI confirm they have removed database records on people who secretly signed forms waiving away their rights to own, buy, or use firearms.

The firearms rights group Gun Owners of America in September called on the DOJ and the FBI to remove records related to the forms, which the Daily Caller reported were presented by FBI agents to at least 15 people. Republican members are now re-upping GOA’s request and urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to hand over proof the FBI has halted usage of the “illegal and unconstitutional” form and removed signatory records, according to a Monday letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.

It is unclear who the people who signed the forms were since the FBI redacted names in documents GOA obtained as part of its lawsuit to compel the disclosure of records. The forms were provided to people at their homes and elsewhere between 2016 and 2019 by bureau agents in Maine, Michigan, and Massachusetts.

“Due to the recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted by Gun Owners of America (GOA), and the resulting article from Gabe Kaminsky in The Daily Caller, Congress has been made aware of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) illegal usage of a form entitled ‘NICS Indices Self-Submission Form,'” the 15 Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), wrote in the letter.

“We, the undersigned elected members of the United States House of Representatives, demand full accountability from all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI,” they added. “No government official — unelected, appointed, or even elected — has the right to infringe upon Second Amendment rights.”

Signatories, who were investigated for things including alleged violent threats in online chat rooms, were asked to identify as a “danger” to themselves or others or as lacking the “mental capacity adequately to construct or manage” their lives. They were also registered with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to the form.

Even though the form claims signing it was done “voluntarily,” Second Amendment attorneys previously told the Daily Caller there is a sense of pressure any time people must deal directly with FBI agents. The FBI told the Daily Caller on Sept. 16 that usage of the form was “discontinued” in December 2019, failing to clarify why such a decision was made.

December 2019 also happens to be the same time that the gun blog AmmoLand revealed the existence of the form.

Greene and the other Republicans cited a federal law in their letter that says the U.S. attorney general and the FBI must provide “information updates” to Congress on NICS. This same law says a federal agency that is “made aware that the basis under which a record was made available … does not apply” must “remove the record from any database that the agency maintains and makes available to.”

Further, the agency “shall … notify the Attorney General that such basis no longer applies so that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System is kept up to date,” the law says. The statute details that the attorney general must ensure the record located in NICS is “updated, corrected, modified, or removed within 30 days of receipt” of notification.

“Gun Owners of America provided notice to the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ),” the lawmakers wrote. “As of October 19th, it has been 30 days since you received this notice from GOA, explaining that entries into the NICS system on the basis of this illegal FBI form are invalid and must be removed. Since neither of your offices has responded to GOA’s letter, we, as Members of Congress, demand direct answers to the questions stated in their original letter.”

Greene told the Washington Examiner it is “unprecedented” that the FBI would “pressure” people into forfeiting their gun rights, calling the FBI “out of control in so many ways.” She also described how she aims to hold the bureau accountable should Republicans gain a House majority after the November midterm elections.

“In a Republican-controlled House, without a Republican in the White House, the only place that we really have power is in the budget and, of course, investigations on committees,” Greene said. “So we can do two things. We can investigate the FBI for abuse of power because they’re part of the federal government. Secondly, we have the power to control the FBI budget, and so we can strip them of funding in multiple ways.”

The congresswoman added that she has the “courage” to defund the FBI but is unsure if her “colleagues” do.

It remains unclear when exactly the FBI was created or if it was distributed to other federal agencies. But an FBI employee told a colleague in November 2016 that it was “reviewed by legal counsel,” according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner. Another FBI employee said two days later on that same email thread that the form was “shared” with “agencies who use these forms like Secret Service and Social Security,” according to records.

Erich Pratt, senior vice president for GOA, told the Washington Examiner his group is prepared to assist members of Congress “in any way possible” as investigations into the NICS “develop in Congress.”

The letter to Garland and Wray was signed by Reps. Greg Steube (R-FL), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Mary Miller (R-IL), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Chip Roy (R-TX), Ben Cline (R-VA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Randy Weber (R-TX), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Warren Davidson (R-OH), and Ralph Norman (R-SC).

The FBI and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment