Arizona Congressman David Schweikert along with Congressman Justin Amash introduced H.R. 2408 on Tuesday, a bill to stop the Department of Justice from targeting, tracking, and cataloguing citizens in the southwest who purchase multiple rifles and shotguns.
For two years, the Department of Justice has been targeting gun owners in the southwest by tracking any purchase of rifles and shotguns along the southwest border. This DOJ scheme, called ‘Demand Letter 3’ and implemented two years ago, requires all gun dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to report all sales of two or more of certain rifles to a single buyer.
Under this discriminatory policy, anyone selling two or more ‘long guns’ to a person within five days triggers the reporting requirement and is placed on a watch list.
“This bill is imperative to block the DOJ’s backdoor gun registration scheme. The Administration has proven time and again that it will abuse its authority and violate our civil liberties. Law-abiding Americans should not have to sacrifice privacy to exercise Second Amendment rights nor should we in the southwest be discriminated against or treated differently than any other American,” said Rep. Schweikert
“The government has no business tracking the sale of rifles to law-abiding citizens. Americans should not be put on a watch list simply for exercising their constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms,” said Rep. Amash.
According to HotAir.com, “Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.
On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:
“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”
On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.”