WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, who owns gun stores in Athens and Warner Robins, has made it clear that as a member of Congress, he wants the federal government to relax restrictions on gun ownership and possession.
But one government watchdog group says that Clyde has crossed a line by backing legislation or regulations that would directly impact his company, potentially violating ethics rules.
The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting an investigation of Clyde’s actions since he took office in January 2021. CREW says Clyde has sponsored legislation, such as a bill that would reverse new federal restrictions on pistol braces, in violation of House rules. Clyde Armory sells pistol braces.
Those rules state that members should not sponsor legislation or use public meetings such as committee hearings to advocate in ways that could benefit them financially, CREW says in a news release about Clyde, an Athens Republican.
“Representative Clyde’s apparent efforts to use his official position to protect and boost his personal financial interests are not in line with the ethical behavior Americans expect from our elected representatives,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. “Clyde’s financial interests in this matter mean we can’t help but ask whether he is prioritizing his own profits over public service and public safety.”
According to his financial disclosures, Clyde earned between $1.25 million and $7.1 million in income from his Clyde Armory stores in 2021 and 2022. Members of Congress are only required to list assets within broad ranges, making it impossible to pinpoint the exact income Clyde has received.
His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the complaint by CREW. The Office of Congressional Ethics generally does not publicly disclose its investigations unless a referral is made to the Committee on Ethics, which is made up of members of Congress.
Clyde, who wears and has distributed for colleagues a lapel pin shaped to depict an AR-15-style rifle, has come under increased scrutiny for taking pro-gun positions in Congress without disclosing the impact it could have on his company.
The New York Times reported last week that in April, Clyde criticized a government monitoring program that requires oversight for gun stores found to have sold a large number of firearms later traced to crimes. What Clyde didn’t say at the time was that his Athens store was monitored under that program in 2020 and 2021.
In a statement to the Times, Clyde said he felt the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was unfairly using crime-tracing data to target individual firearm sellers or federal firearms licensees.
“Firearm traces cause a significant administrative burden for every (federal firearms licensee), and so should rightly be reserved only for open criminal investigations,” he told the Times. “Yet in reviewing the trace codes provided by the A.T.F., tens of thousands of traces appear to have nothing to do with an open criminal investigation.”
A few weeks after the hearing, according to the Times, the House Appropriations Committee proposed withholding funding for the monitoring program Clyde criticized until the criteria was changed to make it more difficult to place sellers under watch.
Clyde is a member of that committee.
About the Author
