After Senate setback, Obama quietly moving forward with gun regulation

By David Codrea: The Examiner

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Final Rule published today in the Federal Register and a news release issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services, followed up with a notice to be published tomorrow, are two developments all but ignored by the mainstream press even though Vice President Joe Biden announced last week that the administration would be using executive orders to advance “gun control” goals following a Senate battle that could not muster the votes to do so legislatively.

The Importation of Defense Articles and Defense Services -- U.S. Munitions Import List references executive orders, amends ATF regulations and clarifies Attorney General authority “to designate defense articles and defense services as part of the statutory USML for purposes of permanent import controls,” among other clauses specified in heavy legalese requiring commensurate analysis to identify just what the administration’s intentions are. Among the speculations of what this could enable are concerns that importing and International Traffic in Arms Regulations may go forward to reflect key elements within the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

The clarification in deference to the Attorney General on ITAR matters makes fair the question of why Eric Holder, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General and Congressional overseers were conspicuously disinterested when export violations were pointed out as matters for Fast and Furious investigators to concern themselves with.

Meanwhile, the HHS news release pledged “Obama administration moves to remove barriers to firearm background check reporting,” by “initiat[ing] a rulemaking process to remove unnecessary legal barriers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule that may prevent states from reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).”

Recent allegations that medical records in New York State are being cross-referenced with gun owner handgun permit records may raise a flag of concern that this could be a first step toward setting up a national system, dependent only on a change in current prohibitions to allow records already being created to be consolidated, with the second step being the so-called “universal background check”

As the HHS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is not scheduled for publication in the Federal Register until tomorrow, Gun Rights Examiner has uploaded a copy of the draft to its Scribd document archive website account.

“The ANPRM will be available for review at: http://www.federalregister.gov/,” the HHS presser informs, anticipating tomorrow’s official publication, and further advises “Comments can be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov/.”