White House: Back off on gun rule

The White House budget office has delivered a blow to the federal agency charged with regulating gun stores, rejecting its emergency request designed to slow gun trafficking into Mexico.

The Office of Management and Budget notified the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last week that its request to require gun stores in four border states to report the multiple sales of certain long guns favored by Mexican cartels did not constitute an emergency under the law.

The move came four days after 17 U.S. senators wrote to the budget office criticizing the proposal. The letter was obtained Tuesday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“This proposed policy change is a ‘solution’ looking for a problem and unfounded and misguided protests by foreign governments should not lead to regulatory actions not based on statutory authority,” says the letter, signed by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and other Republicans.

ATF officials call the flow of guns from U.S. gun stores into the hands of cartels an emergency. In a recent case, prosecutors say, straw buyers purchased as many as 40 AK-47s at a time, headed for Mexico.

The budget office did not completely deny the request.

It said the agency can seek the rule change under normal reporting requirements, which allows for 60 days of public comment before a rule is enacted. The ruling means the agency cannot quickly implement the rule – a top priority of the agency.