Posts Tagged ATF

ATF Reclassifies Key Ammo Component Without Warning

UPDATE 9/1/2016:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has walked back an announcement it now viewed wetted nitrocellulose as a high explosive and will work with the firearms industry on clarification.

From Ammoland:

ATF’s sudden and unexpected change in policy on wetted nitrocellulose will likely have a significant impact on industry’s ability to deliver products to the military and commercial markets. Industry members have relied on the exemption for wetted nitrocellulose for many years and are aware of no accidental detonations or diversion of this product into illicit channels. Consequently, it is unclear why ATF believed it necessary to change its policy and, more importantly, why ATF announced the change in a newsletter article with no advance notice to industry.

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Ban On Ammo Upheld

From Seattle Times:

A federal judge in Seattle has upheld a decision by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to ban ammunition originally designed for AK-74 assault rifles.

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ATF Keeping Gun Owner Info Illegally

From The Daily Caller:

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the go-to federal oversight agency, conducted an audit of ATF and found it does not remove certain identifiable information, despite the law explicitly mandating it do so. GAO conducted reviews for four data systems, and concluded at least two of ATF’s systems violated official protocols.

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Machine Guns On Trial

From Ammoland:

A panel for the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court ruling and sided with the government against a man who was authorized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to manufacture a post-1986 machine gun through a trust, only to have the permission rescinded and his property confiscated. In doing so, and by ignoring founding intent behind the Second Amendment, the panel ruled the right of Americans to own militia-suitable firearms can not only be infringed, but that it’s not even a right.

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IED Found In Central Texas Near Fort Hood

From KCEN:

An improvised explosive device (IED) was found and disabled Tuesday night under a bridge near Rosebud.

According to Falls County Constable Richard Aleman, 2 juvenile boys were hunting for rabbits late Tuesday evening when they saw suspicious items under a bridge near Farm to Market 1963. 1 of the boys contacted his father, who is former military, and his father contacted the fire department.

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California Gun Shop Gives Up Fighting ATF

From The Blaze:

Cook contended that his former lawyer gave ATF officials the wrong information regarding how the pieces were made that led to the raid as well as his eventual forfeiting of the more than 3,000 parts taken from him.

“The reason that I quit fighting is because it’s a battle that I don’t believe that the U.S state attorney, the DOJ or the ATF office would be able to say they were going to give our stuff back,” he said.

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ATF Cracks Down On “Gun Sellers”

From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A Wauwatosa man is under federal investigation for selling guns without a proper license, buying more than 500 firearms from an outdoors store and then selling them through a website or at gun shows, according to newly unsealed court documents.

According to the search warrant, the suspect obtained a collector of curio and relics license in 2014 from the ATF. The license allows the sale of guns that are at least 50 years old but does not allow the holder to be a general firearms dealer.

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P.W. Arms Sues ATF Over Ammo Ban

From Guns.com:

P.W. Arms, Inc., a wholesaler in Redmond, filed suit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in a Seattle federal court on Dec. 18. The lawsuit alleges the ATF incorrectly classified the ammo 7N6, a 5.45x39mm rifle round, as “armor piercing” and in turn prohibited it from importation after permitting the company to do so.

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Ares Armor vs ATF

From Ammoland.com:

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California ruled against Ares Armor in its lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in a decision filed Thursday. United States District Judge Janis L. Sammartino, a George W. Bush appointee, ordered dismissal of plaintiff claims.

Ares claimed First, Second and Fifth Amendment violations by ATF, as well as a violation of the Firearm Owners Protection Act.  ATF argued for dismissal, citing “lack of subject matter jurisdiction …  [and] failure to state a claim,” as well as for summary judgment on the claim by Ares that classifying the part as a firearm was “arbitrary.”

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Bill Removes Suppressors From National Firearms Act

From American Suppressor Association:

The American Suppressor Association (ASA) is pleased to announce the introduction of the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) by Rep. Matt Salmon (AZ-05). This historic piece of legislation will remove suppressors from the purview of the National Firearms Act (NFA), replacing the antiquated federal transfer process with an instantaneous NICS background check. The HPA also includes a provision to refund the $200 transfer tax to applicants who purchase a suppressor after October 22, 2015.

 

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Senator Kaine’s Gun Control Bill

From The Federalist:

Kaine’s proposed law, entitled the “Responsible Transfer of Firearms Act,” places a criminal federal liability on anyone who transfers a firearm to an individual prohibited from possessing one by federal law, according to a fact sheet provided by Kaine’s office. Under current law, only federal firearms licensees (FFLs) are criminally liable if they sell a gun to a prohibited individual. Kaine’s law would extend that criminal liability to private individuals as well.

 

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ATF Claims It’s Not Subject To FOIA

From Guns.com:

“The ATF is not an ‘agency’ within the meaning of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(f)(1), and is, therefore, not a proper party defendant,” the agency wrote in its answer to a complaint filed in federal court in June.

Attorney and Second Amendment scholar, David Kopel, said he didn’t know the reasoning behind the ATF answer. “I have no idea what ATF’s argument on that point is,” he said. “There is no separate FOIA law for ATF, and they are plainly an agency within the meaning of the statute.”

 

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Act Would Limit BATFE’s Arbitrary Limits on Guns

From NRA-ILA:

The term “sporting purposes” is undefined by federal statute and has been subject to several reinterpretations by the BATFE and its predecessor agency.  BATFE and anti-gun administrations have exploited the lack of a clear definition of “sporting purposes” to bypass Congress and impose gun control through executive fiat. The most recent (and perhaps most infamous) example of this was the Obama administration’s attempt to ban a highly popular form of ammunition for the AR-15, America’s most popular rifle.

More from NRA:

“This important legislation would prevent arbitrary ammunition bans like the one attempted earlier this year by the Obama Administration,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “With the support of America’s law-abiding gun owners, the NRA was able to beat back Obama’s attempt to ban ammunition used by millions of law-abiding Americans every day for target shooting, hunting, and self-defense. This legislation would fix the law to protect us from similar government overreach in the future.”

 

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ATF “Tweaking” “Sporting” Definition For Ammo

From Gun Rights Examiner:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ classification of pistol grip only firearms with 14” barrels that fire shotgun shells and are over 26” in overall length as neither “shotguns” nor National Firearms Act “Destructive Devices” or “Any Other Weapons” has created a situation wherein the agency must either quietly save face or have it exposed that untold numbers of good faith gun owners currently legally possess firearms problematic for the government to allow. In order for that status quo to continue, ATF, in conjunction with certain members of Congress and lobbying interests, is working at “tweaking” its definition of the arbitrary “sporting use” term, insider sources tell Gun RightsExaminer. And with that will come a push to expand definitions to allow for further importation bans on certain types of presently legal ammunition.

 

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When Is a NICS Check Required?

From Prince Law Offices, P.C.:

It’s no secret that ATF told at least one FFL they need to run a NICS check on trustees picking up NFA firearms on behalf of a trust. In a letter addressed toDakota Silencer, ATF explained:

The term “person” is defined by the GCA at 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(1), to include “any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, or joint stock company.”

ATF has interpreted the GCA exception in sections 922(t)(3)(B) and 478.102(d)(2) to mean that firearms transfers are exempt from a NICS check when they have been approved under the NFA to the person receiving the firearm. Unlike individuals, corporations, partnerships, and associations; unincorporated trusts do not fall within the definition of “person” in the GCA.

Because unincorporated trusts are not “persons” under the GCA, a Federal firearms licensee (FFL) cannot transfer firearms to them without complying with the GCA. Thus, when an FFL transfers an NFA firearm to a trustee or other person acting on behalf of a trust, the transfer is made to this person as an individual (i.e., not as a trust). As the trustee or other person acting on behalf of the trust is not the approved transferee under the NFA, 18 U.S.C. 5812, the trustee or other person acting on behalf of a trust must undergo a NICS check. The individual must also be a resident of the same State as the FFL when receiving the firearm.

There is a lot of technical legal speak in this post but it is fascinating how the government has spun such a tangled web of laws that may actually cancel out or contradict one another.

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