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Explosive Materials Background Check Act Revealed

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We’ve reported on Frank Lautenberg’s knee-jerk Explosive Materials Background Check Act before, but now that the full text has been released people have begun to parse out exactly how bad this thing is. Unfortunately, since it simply re-writes existing law instead of creating new law, it’s fairly hard to understand all the moving parts. Jesse over at Predator Intelligence has a document he put together that shows how the EMBCA amends Federal law to screw over gun owners. Here’s what I take away from this . . .

  • Requires those who want to use black or smokeless powder to obtain a “limited” explosives license. ANY AMOUNT OF LOOSE BLACK OR SMOKELESS POWDER WOULD REQUIRE SUCH A PERMIT. Commercial small arms ammunition (finished cartridges) is exempt. For now.
  • The bill redefines “manufacturer” in terms of explosives to mean anyone who makes something that goes boom, even if it isn’t for sale or profit. Previously, you needed to be “in the business” of manufacturing to qualify as a manufacturer, which means making a profit from your endeavors. As the current law makes the manufacture of an explosive without a license illegal, this is pretty clearly a stab at making tannerite and other binary explosives that people assemble themselves illegal.
  • It expands the factors that would exclude someone from purchasing “explosive materials” to include those who have a restraining order against them.
  • Restricts those who are suspected of being terrorists or on one of the many secret terrorist watch lists from obtaining a license for explosive materials, turning the “shall issue” explosives permit process into a “may issue” permit at the Attorney General’s discretion. And they don’t have to tell you why you were denied, or provide a means of redress.

In short, it looks like this bill is specifically designed to restrict the ability of those who load their own ammunition or use black powder firearms from buying the components that fuel their activities. Keep in mind that right now, gun stores don’t need an additional license to sell black powder or smokeless powder. You can even buy it online and have it shipped to your door for a modest fee.

Should this bill pass, gun owners would need to pay $50 every three years to buy and store gunpowder. And gun stores would need a whole new set of licenses to sell the stuff. This is an immense financial burden to law abiding Americans involved with firearms, and doesn’t do a damned thing about fireworks. Or pressure cookers.

0 thoughts on “Explosive Materials Background Check Act Revealed”

  1. Jeeeeez…..this stuff is getting old. I suppose it’s way too much to expect a sudden onset of reality and common sense and these knee jerk reaction bills will stop. How the hell did Lautenberg even “write” this bill? I’ve seen lettuce with more life in it.

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    • Lautenberg introduced basically the same bill in 2007 and 2011. He has had this on his agenda for a long time, like Di-Fi and the assualt weapons ban.

      Based on his previous record with this I think he might really believe this will make a difference.

      Reply
  2. If it is anything like the ordinary SVD it will be pretty awesome. Especially since this looks like it has a free floating barrel.

    Unfortunately only 10 round magazines but extremely reliable and should shoot good even with surplus x54r

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  3. Wow.
    This is a really bad bill.
    Being a kind of private person, having to cough up even a drivers license to buy anything or get in some place just really grates on me…
    Great. Where is that list of my senator/congressmen/state legislators.
    More lost time arguing with the phone people.

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  4. So.. I am a little concerned with the language around manufacturer (well the whole thing obviously, but specifically that phrase). When I see that word, I immediately think of FFL (class 3 I think) and would it be that far of a stretch to see them requiring a FFL to buy/store powders? It is the only feasible way I can see how they can regulate the storage of these materials considering to get the FFL you have to submit to a visit by the BATF, and are required to keep logs and submit to more random inspections… Thoughts?

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    • Because they wont allow just any bullpup to take away the spotlight from their precious…. umm I mean Tavor.

      Just messing with you guys!

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    • so you were the guy who bought out Midway’s Pistol primer inventory in the two minutes it took me to access their site after their inventory notice went out?

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    • Good luck finding it. This may be designed to create a run on powder to keep it in short supply and run the price up. It worked with guns and factory ammo.

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    • See my comment above.. I think this is how they will do it.. Require the peeps to get a FFL.. Same requirements as if you were an actual seller of firearms.

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  5. My coworkers keep looking at me funny when I laugh at all these guys talking about their wives….it has to stop, please I can’t laugh anymore!

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  6. It’s long. It’s black. It’s phallic(k). Now I know why Herr Diane Feinstein from San Francisco hates so-called “assault weapons”: she couldn’t get a real human one if she paid for it.

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  7. Kel Tec BP 308 has it beat, at least at 500 yards, and since it is actually available and can be fired south paw I declare it a total winner, even over the Tavor.
    An additional Plus is that the KT does not weigh 18 pounds

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  8. I truly believe they are tyrants, hell bent on destroying ll freedoms. The entire Bill of Rights and the Constitution is in their crosshairs.

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  9. So, since the NRA is a half step away from being a terrorist organization I guess NRA members will soon be ineligible to purchase powder should this bill be enacted.

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  10. Those of us who do not fear all the things that go boom or bang need to contact as many of the elected as we can and give them a very simple message….

    No. Your law will not work, we will not comply. We will remove you from office at the next election.

    The key is the simple part of the message. We can’t reason with them because they are arguing from an emotional set of feelings. We can’t discuss anything with them because they expect us to admit we are wrong before they will listen. And we can’t use facts, examples, or any level of reason because they have their goals and anything outside of ‘the plan’ is ignored.

    No, we need to send a simple message. Tell them No. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

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  11. What’s “great” about this legislation is even moreso than with the statistics behind firearms themselves, this targets the “innocent people”.

    If someone wants more regulation on guns they can point to some accidents and crimes involving guns to try to justify it. Yeah we know these numbers are infinitesimal compared to perfectly safe and legal instances of gun use, but whatever, there are some stats out there.

    Now think about trying to make that same (weak) argument for powder? Powder is only bought and used by SPORT shooters. You use it to make competition ammo, match grade ammo, or custom hunting loads.

    People who have guns only for defense don’t usually reload. A gun novice who buys the cheapest handgun they can find just to stick in their bedside table and forget about for 20 years, they don’t buy powder.

    Instances of gunpowder being used by criminals in recent history? None.

    So go ahead Lautenberg, kick the political hornet’s nest again. You’re giving us all an AIRTIGHT example of a gun-hater/-grabber/-owner-hater using a hypothetical and superficial connection of gun sport to a current event to try to get rid of us.

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  12. While I’ve become more of an active and politically minded gun owner now, my wife was more of a “gun person” than I was when we were first married. I guess helping her father reload his brass as a child had something to do with that. While I’ve had long guns for years (and a .22 revolver), I only just got a 9mm a couple of years ago. And I remember bracing myself for a discussion on the subject, but the first words out of her mouth were “I would love for us to get some pistols.” Now we both have CCLs, 9mm compact pistols, full sized .357s, and a pump action shotgun each. The only fights we have about guns now is what do we want to get next.

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  13. Once again, your senators are proposing things that aren’t even illegal in /CANADA/. That’s right, you can buy black powder or smokeless without /ANY/ license whatsoever.

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  14. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Glocks are stone cold reliable until you start dicking with them, adding titanium firing pins, lighter springs, tactical toaster ovens, ect.

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  15. I will say my glock 20 shows a lot of wear in that area (i shoot pretty hot handloads), but is it detrimental to the gun? who knows. But if the recoil area cracks on my gun ever i will probably get it replaced by glock and start using one of these

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  16. If you retest, make it a blind. Let someone else put or not put in the buffer so you don’t know which your are shooting.

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  17. According to the presser, this bullpup weighs just a smidge under ten pounds, and that’s before optics etc. I know that ten pounds of bullpup can feel more balanced than ten pounds of conventional configuration, but still.

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  18. The only problem with a part like this is that there’s really no truly scientific way for most of us, except maybe Glock itself, to determine if it’s effective or not. The best way to tell would be to take 10 G20’s, shoot about 20,000 to 50,000 rounds through each pistol (at least 20k!), strip and visually, microscopically and probably ultrasonically inspect for signs of metal and polymer fatigue, throughout each weapon at 5,000rd intervals. Needless to say that would be beyond most of our means. CAD/CAM helps a lot but sometimes there’s just no substitute for good old-fashioned endurance testing.

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  19. So now SWAT teams will have to kick in everyone,s front door every week to make sure you did not print any guns or mags out…. How about “Shall not Be Infringed” they need to learn they too must obey the law or we have no law.

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  20. Unless (heaven forbid) there is fresh human attrocity to exploit, I don’t see it even getting as far as they did in the last push. Ever day the emotional reaction gets calmer and the 2014 election season gets closer. I worry much more about what may happen if there aren’t pro-rights gains in the 2014 elections. Unless things shift towards 2a rights, the last two yeara of Obama’s reign will be nothing but a gun grab.

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  21. A total back door attack to take away 2A by making Ammo cost too much and stop almost all reloading because that saves you money, went to the range yesterday and was only half the normal amount of shooters , Because everyone is now having a very hard time getting ammo ,,, and most of what i shoot is my reloads… They know what they are doing …. just made me give some more SAF, and the NRA-ILA…

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  22. Sorry, but no way can I justify a $100 for a flashlight. I carry a 2 AA cell Mini-Maglite on me pretty much every waking hour, and it’s by the bed when I sleep. I’ve had it over 10 years, it never fails me and I use it a lot. In my car is a 6 “D” cell Maglite that does double duty as a club if needed. I like Maglites, they are easy to find bulbs for, easy to replace if lost. and they come with a full life time warantee.

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  23. The message was great and the video was so well done. Whoever produced that should do every video for the NRA.

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  24. I am new to the gun scene since Sandy Hook. I have told my story here before.

    My anecdotal experience is telling me that a lot of sensible women are picking up guns and ammo like never before. I am in the horse community primarily and ALL of my women friends are arming up.

    So is the NRA driving the women to arm or is the NRA responding to women who are arming?

    In either case, it can only help.

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  25. Hear hear! As far as I’m concerned, if gun rights needs to be a color, let’s all be black.
    Or at least blued.
    And nothing would be more fun than to watch Colion debate somebody like Micheal Moore.

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  26. Since the TSA metal detectors don’t pick up the .40s&w JHP in my leg I doubt they will pick up the firing pin in one of these things (unless recalibrated for extreme sensitivity).

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  27. Of all the WWII rifles the two most accurate was the Swiss K31 and the Swedish M96 (that I have researched). The only one to consistently beat the K31 was the M96. Both are great rifles.

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  28. I followed the link, and see that the brick program is sponsored. SO I’m taking it that the cost of melting these firearms down into bricks, molding whatever sayings they want into them AND installation are all paid for by sponsor money, no taxpayer funds at all? Except of course the police manhours to collect all these “evil weapons of terror”. And when did Amazon gift cards become the currency of the land? I’ve got a small stash of junk broken firearms that I’ve been hanging onto, waiting for a buyback in my area so I can get cash money. I don’t want Amazon gift cards. If I have to take gift cards, at least make it Walmart, so I can get ammo or a new shotgun or something else useful.

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  29. This is wonder why that FCC forced Warner Brothers to pull the iconic cartoon “The Looney Tunes” off the air, and forced the classic cartoon cable network Boomerang to pull that cartoon off the air, which shows its characters Foghorn Leghorn, and Wile E. Coyote using explosives that also contain ammonium nitrate (e.g., which create that “BOOM!” sound). To me, I am a fan of the Looney Tunes, I watched it when I grew up. To me it didn’t seem to mind to watch it.

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