While many in the gun-rights community are hailing the proposed federal rule that would permit gun buyers to do much of the purchasing process remotely and even have guns shipped to their homes, one pro-liberty group is cautioning that the move is just a step in the right direction — not a complete solution to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ many problems.
The pro-gun organization Texas Gun Rights (TXGR) is warning its members not to get too excited about the proposed rule change.
“Compared to the nonstop gun confiscation agenda pushed by the Biden Administration, this proposal is a major short-term win for gun owners,” TXGR said in a news report posted on its website. “For years, gun owners have been forced to navigate an outdated federal bureaucracy designed to treat the exercise of a constitutional right like a parole hearing. But gun owners also need to keep one thing firmly in mind: This is not the finish line; it is barely the first step.”
Chris McNutt, TXGR president, said that while this proposal might streamline part of the process, it leaves the larger federal gun control machine fully intact. Gun owners would still be subject to federal background checks, trapped inside the Brady Act system, tracked through federal transfer paperwork, and dependent on federal permission to exercise a constitutional right.
“The ATF slightly reducing burdens that should never have existed in the first place is not some grand act of generosity,” McNutt said. “The Second Amendment does not require Americans to ask the federal government for permission before purchasing firearms.”
The digital 4473 concern
Beyond the celebrated changes themselves, TXGR raises a more substantive concern about the long-term implications of digitizing the federal firearms paperwork system — one that has received less attention than it deserves.
“The same digital 4473 systems being celebrated today could become a powerful weapon for future anti-gun administrations, making it easier for government officials to identify gun owners, trace firearm purchases, and build the infrastructure necessary for confiscation efforts,” the TXGR report stated. “As gun owners know all too well, every government database eventually becomes a tool for abuse.”
The argument has historical resonance. Federal databases originally established for one purpose have, in numerous documented cases, been repurposed by later administrations for ends their creators did not anticipate. The current digitization push under a gun-friendly administration creates infrastructure that a future administration with different priorities inherits intact. A paper-based system, by contrast, is harder to weaponize at scale.
That structural concern is independent of who currently controls the executive branch. It’s a question of what tools are being built and who controls them next.
A welcome change, with caveats
TXGR ultimately frames the proposed rule changes as limited regulatory relief rather than meaningful constitutional restoration.
“Because this fight was never about one rule, it’s about whether Americans will remain free citizens — or subjects managed by a federal gun control bureaucracy,” the report concluded.
For TTAG’s previous coverage of the broader ATF rule changes announced by the Trump Department of Justice, see our recent reporting on the proposed Form 4473 revisions.