Stop National Gun Registration in WV — Anders for West Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Delegate S. Chris Anders
West Virginia House of Delegates – District 97
Chris.Anders@wvhouse.gov | (304) 620-4506

DELEGATE ANDERS INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN ATF GUN REGISTRY OPERATIONS IN WEST VIRGINIA

Civil Penalties Up to $100,000 for Any Federal Employee or Contractor Who Violates the Law

Charleston, WV – [Insert Date] – Delegate S. Chris Anders (R–Jefferson/Berkeley) has drafted landmark legislation to prohibit the creation or maintenance of any firearm registry within the borders of West Virginia — and to hit violators, including federal employees and ATF contractors, with civil penalties of up to $100,000 per record.

The bill comes in direct response to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, which the ATF admits holds nearly one billion firearm transaction records — many digitized and searchable — despite federal law prohibiting the creation of a centralized gun registry.

“West Virginia will not be a party to this unconstitutional act,” Anders said. “The ATF is running a backdoor registry out of Martinsburg. Congress told them not to do it, the Constitution forbids it, and yet they’re still doing it. We’re drawing a line right here — inside our borders, it stops.”

The bill would:

Ban any firearm registry — physical or electronic — from being created, maintained, or operated in West Virginia.
Apply the ban to state agencies, local governments, private individuals, federal employees, and federal contractors.
Impose civil fines from $10,000 to $100,000 per record on violators.
Give the West Virginia Attorney General and private citizens the right to sue anyone who participates in a registry.
Create a Second Amendment Defense Fund from collected penalties to fight future infringements.

Anders emphasized that this is about both Second Amendment rights and state sovereignty:
“The Tenth Amendment makes it clear — the federal government can’t force West Virginia to help enforce an unconstitutional scheme. If Washington wants to trample the Bill of Rights, they won’t be doing it with our soil, our people, or our resources.”

The ATF claims its database is “not searchable by owner name,” but Anders says that excuse doesn’t hold up in 2025:

“With today’s AI and data-mining software, this database is effectively searchable by name. The technology already exists to cross-reference serial numbers, dealers, and other identifiers with public and private records to create a complete list of gun owners. That’s a registry in everything but name — and once the list exists, history shows it’s only a matter of time before confiscation follows.”

Anders is calling on every West Virginian who values their rights to get involved in the fight to stop this registry:

“Go to www.anders4wv.com and sign up for my legislative action alerts. I will send you direct updates on when and how to contact your state legislators, submit testimony, and take action to make sure this bill passes and the ATF’s registry is shut down inside West Virginia.”

“This isn’t just a gun issue,” Anders concluded. “It’s about whether we still govern ourselves in West Virginia — or whether we let unelected federal bureaucrats decide how much liberty we’re allowed to have.”