{"id":109309,"date":"2025-04-15T06:10:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T11:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=109309"},"modified":"2025-04-15T06:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T11:10:04","slug":"109309","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=109309","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Senator Rand Paul Launches an Investigation Into NICS Monitoring<\/a><\/p>\n

Senator Rand Paul is launching an investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) use of the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of backdoor surveillance of American citizens\u2014without due process or public disclosure\u2014should alarm every single person who values the Bill of Rights,\u201d said Dr. Paul. \u201cThe ATF and FBI have no business creating secret watchlists for law-abiding Americans seeking to purchase firearms. It\u2019s unacceptable, and I intend to get answers.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 2021, AmmoLand News discovered through a leak that the\u00a0ATF was using the FBI\u2019s NICS<\/a>\u00a0to monitor certain Americans\u2019 gun purchases. These Americans were not wanted for any crime, but the ATF expected they might commit a crime in the future. Some people were monitored because they were associated with groups and people that the government didn\u2019t like. The monitoring period for the ATF target is 30, 60, 90, or 180 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, it was determined by a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) filed by Gun Owners of America (GOA) that the ATF was using the NICS monitoring program to watch\u00a0Californian gun owners<\/a>\u00a0who might purchase guns that violate state law. It is legal to buy long guns out of state, but not all those long guns are legal in California, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This FOIA response was the second supplied to GOA by the ATF. The first FOIA response was supplied without redactions. The ATF tried to \u201cclaw back<\/a>\u201d the documents after their inadvertent release. When GOA refused to delete the documents, the Bureau filed a restraining order preventing their release. For the last few years, the two parties have battled in court, where the case ground to a halt.<\/p>\n

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The letter reads: \u201cPursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request by Gun Owners of America, the ATF inadvertently released unredacted documents regarding a system monitoring Americans seeking to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment. Upon realizing their error, the ATF initiated an ongoing, yearslong effort to prevent the release of those documents.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on limited public information, the NICS Audit Log Review (Monitoring) system appears to allow ATF agents to request monitoring of a target for time frames ranging from 30 to 180 days after providing identifying information and applicable or potential violations of statute. Upon approval, the ATF would receive alert(s) from the FBI using information in its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The existence of this program, and the ATF\u2019s longstanding push to conceal it from the public, raise questions about its general use and its potential to infringe on Americans\u2019 civil liberties.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n