The Congress has finally passed a Federal Spending Bill 2022 after months of negotiations in both the houses on 10 March, 2022. Now, it awaits President Biden’s signature.
The 1.5 Trillion dollar bill also includes a 13.6 billion dollar aid to Ukraine. But what concerns the gun enthusiasts here is the hidden gun control mechanism in the act that is waiting to be passed by the president.
The bill contains the language that strips the right of the US citizens to keep and bear arms. The Congress has passed the NICS Denial Notification Act and an act for funding the ATF and allowing it to deputize local police and attorneys. The NICS Denial Notification Act included in this spending bill establishes that if a background check system sends back a notice of denial then the attorney general must send a report to local law enforcement in the state and they must identify where the person sought to purchase the firearm, the date of time and also the identity of that person. After that, that report must be sent within 24 hours after the next denial and the person will then be investigated. After the investigation of that particular person, if it is found that the person is actually able to be in lawful possession and be lawfully purchasing a firearm then the report is pulled. The problem here is that 90 percent of the time the denial that comes back from the NIC system is actually false. So, it is against a law abiding person and has all the right to lawfully purchase and possess a firearm. The government will be using a denial system that they know is wrong 90 percent of the time. This is a subtle way for the federal government to expand their powers into investigating a law abiding gun owner.
On the other hand, the cross deputization section allows the ATF to deputize local prosecutors and qualified attorneys for the purposes of having more presence within the state. The section also allows the ATF to deputize state, tribal , territorial and any local law enforcement officers. It’s not just concerning because it will enhance the ATF’s power by having more acclaimed ATF agents but also for states that have passed second amendment protection laws. The language in this act aims to circumvent those types of state restrictions and it does this by allowing the ATF to deputize local agents , law enforcement officers to essentially do their bidding and allows them to put pressure on them.
So, the gun control rights are violated hidden in the large spending bill.
What’s even more interesting is that the spending bill includes billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine to support them and as Ukraine is demonstrating why it is essential for the citizens to keep and bear arms. It is encouraging arming their citizenry to aid in the fight against Russia. And in the same spending bill there is a language that is trying to strip the rights of keeping arms from US citizens.
