Amid ATF flap, Dems pressure Obama to OK gun trafficking rules

[jpak]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/147627-amid-atf-flap-dems-pressure-obama-to-ok-new-anti-gun-trafficking-rules

More than 40 House Democrats are calling on President Obama to approve new rules granting federal regulators more authority to crack down on gun trafficking to Mexico.

The request comes at an unfortunate time for the lawmakers, however, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) has just launched a probe into reports that hundreds of guns were lost amid a federal sting designed to track firearms by letting known smugglers buy them with impunity.

The Democrats want the White House to require border-state gun dealers to report bulk purchases of assault weapons and other long guns – a change requested by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in December. Last month, the the White House rejected ATF's request to expedite the appeal, arguing that the heightened border violence is not emergency enough to circumvent normal procedures.

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"The Mexican drug cartels are killing people at a staggering rate … and long guns are widely known as the cartels' weapon of choice," the lawmakers wrote. "With the death toll rising and the use of a very narrow group of long guns increasing, the criteria for 'emergency implementation' should have been easily satisfied."

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