Happy Anniversary!

Did you miss all the celebrations on the one year anniversary of NY State’s implementing a background check and tax on ammo?

You did!

Here’s a little refresher.

From the New York State Police (NYSP) web site

“New York State's gun laws are designed to prevent criminals and those who threaten to harm themselves or others from buying or possessing guns, cracks down on illegal guns, and bans only the most dangerous assault weapons.”

No mention of ammo.

 From the FBI’s “Firearms Checks (NICS)” page:

“When a person tries to buy a firearm, the seller, known as a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL), contacts NICS electronically or by phone. The prospective buyer fills out the ATF form, and the FFL relays that information to the NICS. The NICS staff performs a background check on the buyer. That background check verifies the buyer does not have a criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to purchase or own a firearm.”

No mention of ammunition checks by NICS.

Ammunition is not mentioned in the Department of Justice’s NICS rules for Point of Contacts.  (New York is now a “Point of Contact” state.)

Nothing about ammo in “Public Law 110–180, An Act To improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System” also called the “Fix NICS Act”

It is reported that during an FBI/ATF Townhall at the 2024 SHOT Show, NICS Section Chief Trudy Ford explained that using the NICS system for ammunition background checks was not an approved use of the NICS system

It seems clear that NICS cannot be used for purposes for which it is not federally authorized; like background checks on ammo purchases!

But, in a court filing, Attorney Paloma Capanna wrote:

“NYSP employees are manually entering individual ammunition background check data from their new system, by hand, into the federal FBI-NICS system in violation of Title 28 Code of Federal Regulations §25.11.”  (Emphasis added.)

Capanna continued: “28 CFR §25.11(b)(2) prohibits a state, expressly, from misuse of the FBI-NICS system for any purpose outside the federally-mandated firearms background check.” 

It seems that the NYSP are violating federal regulations and the FBI are aiding and abetting them when the NYSP use the NICS system to do background checks on ammunition.  (Say it aint so, Merrick Garland and Kathy Hochul!)

How could this blatant violation of the law happen?

David Codrea tried to find out how, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)  He submitted a FOIA request “to the FBI in March for documents and records to clarify authority and determine decision-making (and decision-makers) authorizing the use of NICS for New York State ammunition background checks.”

Codrea’s interpretation of the FBI’s two responses: “We’re not going to tell you. Deal with it.”

Codrea has now sent a letter requesting help to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.  Theoretically, they have more influence – if they choose to use it.

The FBI has delegated power to itself that was not passed by Congress and the FBI refuses to provide information about it, in violation of another law passed by Congress.  The Swamp is alive and well in D.C. under the current administration!

And Donald Trump is a threat to Democracy?