The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) could no longer collect racial data for gun transactions under new legislation in the House.

Gun dealers are currently required to report information about the race and ethnicity of people who purchase firearms. The ATF has been collecting this information for several years, though the agency has maintained it never compiled it in any database.

But the Freedom From Intrusive Regulatory Enforcement of Arbitrary Registration Mandates (FIREARM) Act reintroduced late Monday by Reps. Diane Black Diane Lynn BlackBottom line Overnight Health Care: Anti-abortion Democrats take heat from party | More states sue Purdue over opioid epidemic | 1 in 4 in poll say high costs led them to skip medical care Lamar Alexander's exit marks end of an era in evolving Tennessee MORE (R-Tenn.) and Ted Poe Lloyd (Ted) Theodore PoeSheila Jackson Lee tops colleagues in House floor speaking days over past decade Senate Dem to reintroduce bill with new name after 'My Little Pony' confusion Texas New Members 2019 MORE (R-Texas) would strike down this controversial policy.

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“Forcing citizens who are lawfully purchasing guns to disclose race and ethnicity with the threat of federal prosecution if they fail to disclose is completely unnecessary,” Poe said in a statement. "Bottom line, if a law-abiding citizen is lawfully purchasing firearms, race and ethnicity are irrelevant."

The ATF made changes to Form 4473 in 2012, according to the lawmakers, requiring gun dealers to submit information about the race and ethnicity of their customers.

Gun dealers that fail to comply with the new requirements could face penalties from the ATF, the lawmakers say.

Sen. Roy Blunt Roy Dean BluntCDC tells Congress it urgently needs billion for vaccine distribution On The Money: Trump undercuts GOP, calls for bigger COVID-19 relief package | Communities of color hit hardest financially by COVID-19 | Businesses, states pass on Trump payroll tax deferral Trump undercuts GOP, calls for bigger COVID-19 relief package MORE last fall criticized the controversial policy in a letter to then ATF Director Todd Jones and asked whether the information about a person's race has ever been used to block someone from purchasing a gun.

“The constitutional right of a citizen to own a firearm has nothing to do with race or ethnicity,” Blunt wrote at the time. “It is disconcerting that the U.S. government is gathering this type of data on citizens when there is no connection between purchasing a firearm and an individual’s race or ethnicity."

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Black originally introduced the legislation in the last Congress but is now reintroducing it in a more gun-friendly Congress controlled by Republicans.

“Law-abiding citizens should never have to play 20 questions with Uncle Sam just to access their fundamental right to keep and bear arms,” Black said in a statement.

“As a gun owner myself, I know that this is not only a Second Amendment concern, but also a privacy concern,” she added. "The government has no legitimate reason to collect this information in the first place."