Congressional Republicans' New Gun Law Is Based On Conservative Media Nonsense

Special Programs Guns & Public Safety

Written by Timothy Johnson

Published

Two congressional Republicans are introducing legislation that advances the conservative media's false claim that the Obama administration recently started making gun buyers disclose their race and ethnicity

Reps. Ted Poe (TX) and Diane Black (TN) are proposing a bill that would change the federal form used for gun background checks by prohibiting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from asking about race or ethnicity on the form.

As Media Matters documented, the ATF's Form 4473, which licensed firearms dealers use for background checks, has actually asked about race and ethnicity dating back to at least 2001.

The conservative media falsehood started with a September 16 article by Washington Times reporter Kelly Riddell, who wrote that a 2012 revision to Form 4473 meant that "[t]he Obama administration quietly has been forcing new gun buyers to declare their race and ethnicity, a policy change that critics say provides little law enforcement value while creating the risk of privacy intrusions and racial profiling."

Riddell's claim is extremely misleading. The August 2008 version of the form, which was used prior to the revision in 2012, asked about race and ethnicity in question 10:

2008 ATF form

In 2012, the ATF split question 10 into two parts. Now, instead of asking gun buyers to indicate their race or ethnicity from a series of choices, applicants must indicate their ethnicity and race separately:

2012 ATF form

This change is consistent with similar changes made on Census forms.

Other members of the conservative media took Riddell's claim about an Obama administration “policy change” at face value, asserting that being asked to disclose race and ethnicity on the background check form was somehow a new development.

If the press release from Poe and Black is any indication, the bill is directly premised on the conservative media falsehood. The September 18 release claims, in contradiction to publicly available evidence, “In 2012, the Obama Administration quietly began requiring the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to record firearms purchasers' race and ethnicity.”