Republican House members have urged Speaker Mike Johnson to oppose the reauthorization of a 36-year-old gun control law which is set to expire in March, the Daily Caller reported.
The 1988 Undetectable Firearms Act bans the manufacture, sale, or import of firearms that are undetectable by metal detectors or similar security technology.
The provisions set out in the law must be reauthorized before March 8. The US Senate passed a reauthorization bill in July. However, 75 House Republicans have urged Speaker Johnson not to bring the Senate bill to the House floor for a vote.
In a February 1 letter signed by the Republican lawmakers and led by Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Andy Ogles of Tennesee, the GOP members warned that Congress must not reauthorize the law, particularly in light of the Biden administration’s previous actions, and especially while the ATF’s “frame or receiver” definition was still being heard in court.
In a press release announcing the letter, Massie said that at one time, he was the only member to object to reauthorizing the law but now he believed “we have the momentum to stop it.”
Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman, one of the 75 Republicans who signed the letter, said in the press release that the nearly 4-decade-old law “is no longer a tool to ensure safety, as technology has changed.”
Rep. Ogles urged Speaker Johnson in the press release to oppose the reauthorization bill, arguing that “defending freedom requires courage to take a stand.”
According to the press release, 27 pro-Second Amendment organizations, including Gun Owners for America and the National Association for Gun Rights, have endorsed the Republican efforts to stop the reauthorization of the Undetectable Firearms Act.
Gun Owners of America’s Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller that if the law is reauthorized, “it could lead to the confiscation of millions of guns and gun parts.”