NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, wholeheartedly supports the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee’s subpoena of The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate allegations that the administration wrongfully colluded with gun control groups and the City of Chicago to bring an unfounded lawsuit against a firearm manufacturer. It is proper and fitting that the House of Representatives exercises its oversight authority to demand records of the office led by Vice President Kamala Harris, which appears to have weaponized the weight of the federal government to bring “lawfare” against an industry the Biden-Harris administration politically disfavors.
NSSF calls on The White House to comply with the subpoena, end its collaboration with special interest groups to deny Americans their Constitutionally-protected Second Amendment rights and abandon their support for the City of Chicago unfounded claims that amount to another example of “lawfare.”
“The White House already ignored requests to voluntarily provide this information to the House Oversight Committee. This office – led by Vice President Harris, the administration’s ‘gun control czar’ – appears to have manifested the firearm industry’s deepest concerns that it was never formed to improve community safety,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Rather, it appears this office is a taxpayer-funded effort to do the bidding of radical, special interest groups to weaponize the courts through ‘lawfare’ and advance an agenda to deprive Americans of their Second Amendment rights, guaranteed by the Constitution. NSSF urges The White House to comply with the subpoenas and provide the information to Chairman James Comer.”
The House Oversight Committee is investigating allegations that The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention collaborated with the antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety and the City of Chicago to target GLOCK, Inc., in afrivolous lawsuit, alleging the company is responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms when criminals unlawfully attach an illegal “switch” to handguns. Inprevious demands for information, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) noted, “On the very day the suit was filed, Everytown for Gun Safety President John Feinblatt posted on X, ‘Federal officials recently contacted Glock to discuss implementing new ways to modify Glock pistols to make it harder for Glock switches to be installed. Rather than help, Glock falsely insisted there is nothing they can do.’”
Chairman Comer said this indicates that Everytown had inside access to White House meetings. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is staffed by a former Everytown lobbyist, Rob Wilcox. Letters demanding more information were previously sent to Steven Dettelbach, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention Director Stefanie Feldman.
Chairman Comer sent these letters demanding answers on June 14, 2024. Instead of answering those questions, White House Deputy Counsel Rachel Cotton responded by making counteraccusations that Chairman Comer was shilling for the gun lobby. Cotton provided no answers, only listing off the Biden administration’s gun control efforts and goals, adding Congress “should open a real investigation into an actual danger to our communities: the proliferation of illegal devices that convert handguns into machineguns in a matter of seconds.”
Deputy Counsel Cotton’s response was a purposefully misleading attack on not just the House Oversight Committee but also GLOCK, Inc. The devices are “autosears,” which are illegal to possess, attach to a firearm or use without compliance with the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA). Cotton, as an attorney, should know that these aren’t produced by GLOCK, Inc., or any other firearm manufacturer. In fact, they are largely illegally imported from China or illegally manufactured by individuals.
