I believe the database isn’t being deleted. That the surveillance system isn’t being shut down. And that no one is going to be held accountable for using it to monitor law-abiding Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The machinery remains.
That should concern every gun owner. Governments change. The people in charge change. What matters is what power we leave behind for the next person to use.
As Jews, we should understand that lesson better than anyone.
Gun Owners of America is challenging the Trump administration’s defense of NICS Monitoring, arguing that ATF Director Robert Cekada’s description of the program leaves out its most dangerous feature: The FBI built a system capable of notifying federal agencies when legally eligible Americans attempt to buy firearms.
Cekada disclosed that only 61 ATF NICS alerts remained active as of September 17. That number sounds small when compared with the millions of firearm background checks conducted each year. It also counts only ATF alerts—not the full reach of the FBI system.
In a detailed response posted on X, GOA accused Cekada of making two false statements and three misleading statements about the program. The organization says federal records uncovered thousands of past NICS Monitoring alerts established by agencies including the U.S. Marshals Service, Secret Service, and Army.
By Duncan Johnson
