A viral video from December 2023 is making the rounds again in February with claims that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) updated its policy to allow “illegal immigrants” to buy guns.
“My husband owns a gun shop and he just called me to tell me that the ATF has made updates to their background check policy and, effective today, they give an exemption to illegal immigrants to be able to purchase firearms,” a woman says in the viral video.
THE QUESTION
Has the ATF updated its policy to allow people in the U.S. illegally to buy guns?
THE SOURCES
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) spokesperson
- 18 USC 922
- Kirstan Conley, deputy director of public information for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
- California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) spokesperson
- State laws in New York, California and Illinois
THE ANSWER
No, the ATF has not updated its policy to allow people in the U.S. illegally to buy guns. Federal law prohibits people who are in the U.S. illegally from buying guns and the ATF is not able to change the law.
WHAT WE FOUND
Federal law prohibits people who are in the U.S. illegally from purchasing and possessing guns. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has not changed that rule, and the agency is not even able to do so on its own, a spokesperson told VERIFY.
The Gun Control Act, which was first passed in 1968 and has been amended over the years, prohibits people who are “illegally or unlawfully in the United States” from purchasing firearms.
Congress would have to pass a law allowing people who are in the country illegally to buy guns, which has not happened.
The viral video also falsely claims that people who are in the U.S. illegally can be police officers in New York, California and Chicago.
“The claims are not true,” Kirstan Conley, deputy director of public information for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, said in response.
New York state law requires police officers to be U.S. citizens.
A spokesperson for the California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), which sets standards for selecting and training law enforcement in the state, also said the claim is “an incorrect statement.”
California removed its citizenship requirement for police officers, but still requires them to be “legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law.”
Illinois law also allows noncitizens to work as police officers, but only if they are legally allowed to both work and carry a gun in the U.S.
This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: La ATF no ha actualizado su política de permitir que inmigrantes 'ilegales' compren armas en los EE.UU.