The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is requesting comments on a proposed rule change regarding shipped firearms. The rule will require federally licensed firearms retailers (FFLs) to notify ATF and local law enforcement when guns they ship become lost in transit.
Under federal law, dealers and manufacturers are required to report any lost or stolen firearms within a 48-hour period. However, that does not apply to guns that go missing in the mail. The ATF is now proposing that the same rule be applied to firearms lost during shipping. This rule change was first proposed in 2000.
In the regulatory notice the ATF stated that from FY 2008 through FY 2012, in an average of 1,525 crime gun traces per year, FFLs claimed to have never received the firearm allegedly shipped to it and no one reported the theft or loss to ATF. This proposal seeks to ensure that such losses and thefts do not continue to go unreported by clarifying that it is the sender or transferor that is the appropriate reporting party, because it is the sender that is in the best position to know when and how the firearms were shipped and to follow-up with the shipping service provider to determine what may have occurred.
The rule is opposed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). According to NSSF General Counsel Larry Keane NSSF maintains that the ATF lacks statutory authority to impose this requirement since Congress only mandated reporting of lost or stolen guns when “in inventory” of the FFL. The association believes that It makes little practical sense to impose this burden on the shipping FFL since the receiving FFL is in better position to know that a firearm ordered was not received.
