Posts Tagged ATF

First Bump Stock As A Machine Gun Prosecution Dropped

From Houston Chronicle:

A federal prosecutor withdrew the unique charge before the trial began for a Houston man accused of owning the device. However, the defense was prepared to call an ATF expert to testify that bump stocks, attachments that cause a rifle to fire more rapidly, do not render a semiautomatic gun a machine gun.

Experts had conflicting views on the matter, said defense attorney Tom Berg. But Rick Vasquez, a retired ATF agent and firearms expert, would have told the court the bump stock did not meet the statutory definition of a machine gun. The prosecution dismissed case, he said, because the government couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt the bump stock was a machine gun.

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Groups Pushing ATF To Make 80% Lowers “Firearms”

From Firearms Policy Center:

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Biden Team Working To Put ARs On NFA List

From Bearing Arms:

According to Oliva, members of the Biden transition team are already exploring options to place AR-15s and other modern sporting rifles under the National Firearms Act without legislation, instead using the regulatory power of the ATF to redefine the rifles themselves.

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Congressman Elected On Anti-NFA Platform

From Guns.com:

Clyde’s own views on gun regulations are that we have far too many and ran on a platform that included scrapping the National Firearms Act tax on firearms, along with the Brady Background Check system, the federal excise tax on guns and ammo, the “sporting purposes” test, and the interstate ban on purchasing a handgun. In other reforms, he backs the Hearing Protection Act, which would deregulate suppressors from NFA controls, and wants to extend the same policy to include short-barreled rifles and shotguns. 

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How The ATF Arbitrarily Creates Criminals

From FEE.org:

What if government agents could, by declaration, make you into a criminal? What if, without legislative change, bureaucrats could decide that what was legal yesterday is a felony today? What if we were governed not by law, but by arbitrary statements telling us what we may or may not do?

Unfortunately, those questions are not merely hypothetical—thanks to recent abuses of power by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), millions of American gun owners are facing them head-on. Even if you hate guns, you should be deeply concerned by the arbitrary power wielded by the ATF against your fellow Americans. If an unchecked executive agency can run roughshod over any of our rights with impunity, all of our rights are in danger.

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ATF’s Arbitrary Classifications

From Cam and Company:

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ATF Re-classifies Honey Badger Pistol As Short-barreled Rifle

From Firearms Policy Coalition:

ATF has once again unlawfully and unconstitutionally exceeded its authority and changed the law by issuing a new determination that is devoid of logic and reason, contains no explanation as to the manner in which it arrived at its conclusion, conflicts with its prior determinations, and embodies the very essence of “arbitrary and capricious”. 
After examining a sample Q Honey Badger Pistol, the ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD) concluded that “the objective features of the Honey Badger firearm, configured with the subject stabilizing brace, indicate the firearm is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder.” FATD further concluded that it is a SBR as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA) and Gun Control Act (GCA). Yet, ATF does not explain how it arrived at this conclusion other than vague generalizations that the firearm was “designed” to be fired from the shoulder and by virtue of its barrel length meeting the definition of a SBR. 

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California AG Sues ATF Over 80% Firearms

From Courthouse News:

Shearer, who is co-counsel in the lawsuit, said state gun laws have been undermined by the ATF’s refusal to treat the parts used to build homemade guns as firearms. This allows “unscrupulous” DIY firearm sellers to flood the gun market.
“The ATF has specifically exempted them from the federal definition of a firearm, meaning federal gun laws don’t apply to them. As a result, people can order and build these guns without passing background check or even verifying their age,” she said. “This has opened the biggest loophole you can imagine in our federal and state gun laws.”

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Officer Pyle Explains “Assault Rifles”

Former LAPD Officer Pyle:

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Georgia Senator Introduced Gun Owner Privacy Act

From Bearing Arms:

Loeffler’s bill, the Gun Owner Privacy Act, would ban the use of federal funds to store personal information collected during background checks attached to gun purchases. Federal agencies are already barred from creating a database of gun owners, but the legislation will give citizens recourse for any infringements on their privacy. While the law would not apply to Americans who fail background checks, those whose records are illegally stored will be able to sue agencies in federal court and collect damages.

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ATF Considering Pistol Brace Ban

From AK Operators Union:

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“Ghost Guns” Can’t Be Controlled

From Bearing Arms:

It’s easy for someone writing to say that the ATF should regulate “ghost guns,” but the problem is that there’s no practical way to do it. Sure, the ATF could redefine at what point a receiver becomes a firearm, but that will likely push people to build guns complying with the new rules. It wouldn’t actually stop anyone.

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The New 4473, What To Expect

From The Truth About Guns:

The most notable changes are the inclusion of the firearm information at the top of page one instead of page three, the change of “county” to “county/parish/borough,” and the addition of “non-binary” to the gender.
There are, of course, other changes but they are not as significant as these and they apply mostly to the FFLs.  There is a full breakdown of each change, and what it means for FFLs, in the RocketFFL compliance program.

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Rolling Stone Blames Drug War Violence On American Guns

From Rolling Stone:

Pérez, who studied the illegal-arms trade at University College London before joining Mexico’s government, doesn’t deny that other factors, including the failed War on Drugs and the notorious corruption of the Mexican police, have contributed to the crisis. Still, “it would be impossible to imagine this scenario without American guns,” he says.

*Emphasis added.

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Trump Appointed Judges Slam Bump Stock Rule

From Reason:

Gorsuch just got some company. This week, Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump appointee who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued an opinion in Lane v. United States that basically accused the Justice Department of ignoring basic principles of constitutional governance in its defense of the Trump administration’s bump stock ban.

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