ATF Faces Congress Apr. 28—Your Gun Records Are on the Line

April 28. House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement. A confirmed, Republican-led hearing—and the Tiahrt Amendment is the centerpiece.

If you've never heard of Tiahrt, here's the short version: it's the appropriations rider that keeps the feds from building a gun registry, forces the FBI to destroy background-check records within 24 hours, and blocks the ATF from marching into your dealer and demanding a warrantless inventory audit. **It is the reason a federal list of gun owners does not exist today.**

Now it's in a hearing room. That alone should have every gun owner paying attention.

The fresh accelerant is Rep. Madeleine Dean's **Gun Records Restoration and Preservation Act**, a June 2025 bill that would gut Tiahrt in a single stroke. Not trim it. Not modify it. Gut it. Dean's bill restores ATF access to tracing data that could map which Americans own which guns, kills the 24-hour destruction rule for NICS records, and hands the agency authority to demand physical dealer inventory checks—your inventory, on demand, no warrant required.

**That's not a policy tweak. That's a blueprint for a registry.**

The Republican majority on the subcommittee is the firewall right now—but firewalls only hold if the people behind them feel the heat from constituents, not just from lobbyists. You have six days to call your House rep and make clear that Tiahrt is non-negotiable.

Watch April 28 closely. Watch who testifies and what they're allowed to say. Watch which Republicans ask hard questions and which ones go soft. Watch whether Dean's bill draws any nods from the dais.

**The hearing itself is the story—and what happens inside that room could echo for years.** WTF News will be tracking every development. Don't miss what comes next.