Guns.com by Chris Eger 8/23/2021
A sweeping proposed new rule by federal gun regulators received over a quarter-million public comments in a 90 day period.
On May 21, the Justice Department published a rulemaking in the Federal Register for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to change the definition of “Frame or Receiver." Once the smoke cleared 90 days later, 291,249 comments had been posted. By comparison, a 2018 regulatory ban on bump stocks, reclassifying the accessories as illegal machine guns, drew 193,297 comments.
Taking opposite sides on the current Frame or Receiver rulemaking were pro-Second Amendment and anti-gun organizations, both of which had mounted campaigns to push comments to the Federal Register.
"In part, the Justice Department is seeking to destroy law-abiding Americans’ ability to make their own firearms for personal use by restricting access to popular items hobbyists and gun rights enthusiasts use to exercise this right. Americans’ have enjoyed the right to make firearms for personal use since before the Revolution," observed the NRA, who posted a 25-page comment against the rule.
Similarly, the pro-gun Firearms Policy Coalition posted a 17-page comment against the rule.
Meanwhile, Brady, Everytown, and Giffords waged comment-generating campaigns with suggested cut-and-paste advocacy in favor of the rule change.
What's Next
After ATF considers public feedback and makes any changes because of the comments, providing the agency still wants to proceed, it will publish a final version of the rule to the Federal Register as a final rule, describing and responding to the comments received. That final rule includes a date for when the change becomes both effective and enforceable, generally 60 to 90 days in the future.
It remains to be seen exactly how that will play out, but any rule pressed into effect is likely to be the target of multiple federal lawsuits as well as potential congressional oversight.
More:
https://www.guns.com/news/2021/08/23/almost-300k-comments-logged-on-atfs-frame-or-receiver-rule
