GOP seeks to nix race question for gun buyers

Congressional Republicans are pushing to end a controversial requirement that people disclose their race when purchasing a firearm.

Legislation slated to hit the House floor on Wednesday would bar the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from requiring race and ethnicity disclosures on purchasing forms.

{mosads}“The government should be colorblind on all our rights — whether it’s the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or the right to keep and bear arms,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who introduced an amendment to block the ATF from collecting the information. 

Black called the ATF’s racial disclosure policy a “direct challenge to the Second Amendment rights enshrined in our Constitution.”

“We all want to see weapons kept out of the hands of criminals, but an individual’s race and ethnicity has nothing to do with their ability to safely own and operate a firearm,” Black said on the House floor.

The House is debating an appropriations bill to fund the Justice Department, which includes the ATF. But the funding is contingent on certain provisions, also known as policy riders, that the agency must follow.

Black’s amendment was adopted by a voice vote and will be included in the final funding bill for the DOJ, which lawmakers are expected to vote on later Wednesday.

It is one of several gun riders that Republicans included in the funding bill, angering Democrats who say the provisions should not be wrapped into the legislation.

Black previously challenged the ATF’s racial disclosure policy through stand-alone legislation known as the Firearm Act.