Prohibit BATF from Implementing the Smith & Wesson Gun Sellout. Representative John Hostettler (R-IN) introduced this amendment to "prohibit the Department of Treasury and specifically the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or BATF, from using tax-payer dollars to enforce the provisions of a settlement agreement between Smith & Wesson, the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development." Hostettler explained that his amendment to the fiscal 2001 Treasury and Postal appropriations bill was needed because "the BATF will no longer just enforce Federal laws; they will now enforce a private civil agreement. This greatly expands the BATF’s scope of power without Congress’s approval. Failure to pass this amendment will allow the executive branch to continue to coerce legal industries, in this particular case the gun industry, to enter into these agreements whenever they feel they cannot get their agenda through Congress."
The House rejected the Hostettler amendment to H.R. 4871 on July 20, 2000 by a vote of 204-214 (Roll Call 427). We have assigned pluses to the yeas.
