Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville stand with majority of House delegation against Joe Biden’s new ATF rule to criminalize private gun sales
Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tubberville have signed onto a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to strike down the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule on the definitions of “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms. This rule ignores the law and congressional intent and flagrantly violates the Constitution to try to require anyone who sells a firearm to register as a federal firearm licensee. “The Second Amendment is sacred – and Joe Biden doesn’t get to regulate Americans’ right to bear arms, “ said Senator Tuberville. “Once again, the Biden Administration is trying to overregulate the gun industry and take away Americans’ rights. Make no mistake – this is an election year ploy. As long as I’m in the Senate, I’ll fight to make sure Alabamians’ Second Amendment rights are protected.” According to the ATF, on April 10, 2024, the Attorney General signed ATF’s final rule, Definition of “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms, amending ATF’s regulations in title 27, Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”), part 478. “Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show, or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement his office released. “This regulation is a historic step in the Justice Department’s fight against gun violence. It will save lives.” The joint resolution follows several lawsuits against the rule, including one filed in Kansas that Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office has joined. Representative Andrew Clyde is leading the resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alabama representatives Robert Aderholt, Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers and Barry Moore, were original co-sponsors of his resolution. According to Clyde’s office, the resolution is endorsed by national Second Amendment groups Gun Owners of America (GOA), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). “With a stroke of the pen, the Biden Administration once again oversteps its authority with this new rule. This regulation threatens to turn tens of thousands of upstanding citizens into criminals for exercising their constitutional rights by selling even a single firearm. The NRA fully supports Senator Cornyn and Representative Clyde’s legislation to invalidate this egregious rule,” said Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “The ATF’s ‘Engaged in the Business’ Final Rule is President Biden’s unconstitutional attempt to impose by executive rule making a form of so-called ‘Universal Background Checks’ expressly rejected by Congress. This rule threatens law-abiding Americans with criminal sanction including imprisonment for occasionally privately selling firearms, conduct Congress has said does not require a license. The constitution does not grant ATF authority to ‘improve’ on what Congress has enacted or to create from whole cloth crimes not enacted by Congress. NSSF thanks Congressman Andrew Clyde for his leadership to exert Congress’ sole authority to craft criminal law, to constrain the growth of the administrative state that threatens our democracy and to stand up for the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
Hoover’s new CFO faces an uphill battle to improve transparency; the public and council await the 2023 financial annual audit
The City of Hoover has witnessed a notable turnover in its administrative and financial staffing since the 2020 election, a level of change that is significant and could potentially impact the city’s stability and operations. Since 2020, Hoover is on its third CFO and has replaced its longtime city administrator, Allan Rice. He abruptly retired a week after being placed on paid administrative leave for reasons never fully explained. Two months after Rice’s retirement in June 2023, Hoover’s CFO also retired, having been with the city for only three years. This succession of retirements, particularly for the two highest-paid positions for the City of Hoover, has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the city’s financial management. Sources tell Alabama Today that during this time, the city also changed its longtime independent audit firm from Barfield, Murphy, Shank & Smith (BMSS) Advisors and CPAs to another firm. The change came after the last BMSS report, which included a “finding” of problems that the then-CFO disagreed with. According to the Hoover Sun, the audit report for fiscal 2022 noted “some material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in the city’s internal controls. The material weaknesses included not enough segregation of duties over financial reporting by an outsourced contractor at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and errors and problems related to the implementation of a new business software system. The significant deficiencies dealt with the recording of accounts receivable transactions and the holding of checks for vendors.” Despite the concerns in the audit report, the Sun reported that “Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato was not alarmed.” During this same time, the City has issued nine general obligation bonds totaling $93 million, passed two resolutions changing City finance and accounting practices, and increased the time taken to release audit findings of the City’s finances yearly. A review of previous audit reports shows that the 2019 report was released on March 31, 2020 (6 months); the 2020 report on April 30, 2021 (7 months); the 2021 report on May 2, 2022 (8 months); and last year’s (the 2022) report was released on August 31, 2023 (11 months). As for the 2023 audit report, according to purported statements by the City of Hoover, the 2023 audit is still ongoing (well into the 2024 fiscal year), and the release date for the audit report is unknown. Despite the Mayor’s assurances that there is nothing to be alarmed about, the combination of all the above has led some to start questioning the city’s actual financial condition and the process of getting information out to its citizens in a timely and understandable fashion. A challenge that the City’s CFO, Jennifer Cornnet, who has been on the job four months, recognized in a recent post by the mayor’s office. She emphasized that her focus is on transparency and clear reporting of City finances. “One of my goals is really transparent and clear financial reporting that is presented the way a normal person can use it because there’s a lot of things that we do in accounting that are not normal and mean nothing to other people who aren’t in accounting and it can be overwhelming,” Cornett said in a statement on the city website. “I’d love to be able to provide a big picture snapshot overview that’s easy to read and understand.” We will continue to follow developments related to the City of Hoover’s finances and report what we learn. Editors Note: This story has been edited to correct the spelling of the Hoover CFO’s last name. A prior version of this story stated that a detailed list of questions was sent to the City of Hoover, and a follow-up call was made to confirm its receipt. That original email contained an error and was not received until several hours after publishing the original story, even though the voicemail was left. The PIO did not respond to acknowledge receipt or reply to that email as of May 21, 2024.
