Conservative media and the National Rifle Association (NRA) are fearmongering over a supposed “new” Obama administration regulation to limit the ability of convicted domestic abusers to buy firearms.

In reality, the regulation would simply implement a 1998 law and has been under consideration for the past 17 years, including during the entire eight years of George W. Bush's administration.

The conservative opposition campaign to what is in fact a long-standing proposal began with a flawed May 30 article in The Hill headlined, 'Administration preps new gun regulations," that claimed, “The Justice Department plans to move forward this year with more than a dozen new gun-related regulations, according to [a] list of rules the agency has proposed to enact before the end of the Obama administration.” The article described the regulations listed in the Department of Justice's semi-annual Unified Agenda (a periodic list of proposed or recently completed rules) as “new,” when in fact several of them date back to prior administrations.

Conservative media, the NRA, and the far-right Gun Owners of America organization seized on one of these recycled regulations in particular that deals with domestic abusers' access to weapons. Without basis, they speculated that in its final form, the regulation would expand the current definition of domestic violence and therefore prevent even more convicted abusers from owning a gun:

• A May 31 article at Breitbart.com claimed the DOJ was attempting to “circumvent” Congress by moving forward unilaterally with the regulations. The website quoted an official from Gun Owners of America who claimed that under the “new” domestic abuser regulation, someone “who spanked his kid, or yelled at his wife, or slapped her husband” could be prevented from buying a gun.
• An article published May 31 on American Thinker claimed that the regulation would expand the class of domestic abuse convictions that bar someone from owning a gun.
• During the June 1 broadcast of Fox News' The Kelly File, host Megyn Kelly and guest Dana Loesch speculated that the DOJ “want[s] to expand” the definition of domestic violence with a regulation. In criticizing a purported expansion, Loesch stated, “And there are people saying, well wow, one instance [of domestic violence] that isn't really malicious, one instance could actually invalidate someone's Second Amendment natural rights forever. That's a really serious thing.”
• A June 5 alert from the NRA's lobbying arm, Institute for Legislative Action, described the regulations in the DOJ's 2015 Unified Agenda as “alarming” and claimed they had caused “fear” and “confusion.” The NRA implied that the rule could modify the statutory definition of domestic violence but also acknowledged that the final rule is “still to be determined” and may be a “case of bureaucratic housekeeping.” The NRA alert acknowledged that the regulation dated back to 1998 while still fearmongering about what the Obama administration DOJ planned to do.
• In a June 9 alert on “12 proposed anti-gun regulations,” Gun Owners of America bizarrely claimed that the regulations included, “Expanding provisions which strip the ability of battered wives (or husbands) to defend themselves from abusive spouses.”

Contrary to these right-wing claims, however, the regulation under attack has appeared on every Unified Agenda dating back to its first appearance in the Fall 1998 edition.

Just like the DOJ's Spring 2015 Unified Agenda does, the Fall 1998 Department of Treasury* Unified Agenda contains a proposal to adopt the same 1998 interim final rule (63 FR 35520) that implements provisions of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 relating to domestic abusers' access to guns:

The regulation has appeared in every Unified Agenda since, including during the Bush Administration.

Other regulations described as “new” by The Hill also date back to previous administrations. The following three regulations found in the DOJ's Spring 2015 Unified Agenda also appear in the Fall 2007 Unified Agenda:

• Machine Guns, Destructive Devices, and Certain Other Firearms--Amended Definition of “Pistol”
• Public Law 105-277, Making Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for FY 1999 Relating to Firearms Disabilities for Nonimmigrant Aliens
• Residency Requirement for Persons Acquiring Firearm

* The Department of Treasury oversaw the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives until 2003 when it was moved to DOJ.