Republican spending bill would block gun background check rule
Proposed rule would implement a provision in the first bipartisan anti-gun violence package passed in years

As the Biden administration reiterates calls for tougher gun measures in response to the mass shooting in Maine last week, House Republicans updated a fiscal 2024 spending bill with provisions that take the opposite track.

House Republicans are looking to use the appropriations process to block a proposed rule to implement a provision included in the first bipartisan anti-gun violence package passed in years.

That gun package, which received the support of Republican senators such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, widened the definition of engaging in the business of firearm dealing, according to the Justice Department.

The law was enacted in the aftermath of a shooter killing 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and another shooter killing 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

A proposed rule the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published Sept. 8 would clarify the circumstances in which a seller would be required to obtain a federal firearm license and run background checks.

A new version of the House fiscal 2024 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, posted on the House Rules Committee website, adds a provision that would prohibit federal funds from being spent to enforce that rule, along with at least two other provisions that would roll back ATF enforcement against firearms dealers.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in March that directed Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to issue the rule related to the new gun safety law.

Senior officials at that time said the president sought to “clarify” when the law considers someone a gun dealer and must register with the federal government, in a way that will bring the country closer to universal background checks.

“It’s just common sense to check whether someone is a felon and domestic abuser before they buy a gun,” Biden said at the time.

Now, the White House announced Biden would visit Lewiston, Maine, Friday following a shooting spree that killed 18 people there last week. In response to the shooting, Biden has reiterated his calls for Congress to pass gun control legislation and said he would use administrative action to curtail gun violence.

Once again, in the aftermath of a mass shooting, the moves highlight how far apart America’s two major political parties are on how to respond to mass gun violence, with Democrats calling for action and stronger firearm laws while Republicans say the solution is not gun control.

The language in the revised “C-J-S” bill is the latest sign that House Republicans will take a different track from some of their colleagues in the Senate, who said last week they were open to restarting bipartisan talks in response to the Lewiston shooting.

In his first interview after winning the gavel last week, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News “the problem is the human heart. It’s not guns. It’s not the weapons.” Johnson said it was not the time to consider additional legislation and his party was united around protecting Second Amendment rights.

The moves are part of a broader strategy to use this year’s appropriations process to go after the ATF and target gun policy from the Biden administration.

The new version of the spending bill, expected to get a House floor vote later this month, includes an array of conservative policy riders that are sure to garner ardent opposition from Democrats.

For example, one policy rider would block funding for the implementation of a Biden administration rule that toughens regulations on firearms with stabilizing braces, a device that’s been used in mass shootings and currently subject to numerous legal challenges.

Republicans added another rider to the bill aimed at making sure the ATF provides a certain amount of leeway to federal firearm licenses holders when they run into violations.

Specifically, the legislation’s intent is to make sure the bureau refrains “from revoking or suspending a federal firearms license for initial violations without at least first issuing a warning letter.”

In addition to the language included in the Rules Committee version of the bill, Republican members offered multiple amendments targeting the ATF, its director Steven M. Dettelbach or other rules passed by the agency.