The Silencer Shop (www.silencershop.com) has been a major online player in the silencer business for several years, and just opened a brand new storefront in Austin, Texas that focuses on, strangely enough, silencers. Cans are big business here in Texas. It’s now legal to hunt anything you want with them here and where most shooting is done on private ranches where disturbing the neighbors is something you try to avoid. Naturally, the Silencer Shop is wary of the impending rule changes that the ATF is proposing that would grant the local sheriff the ability to deny all citizens in their jurisdiction the ability to purchase a device that would otherwise be perfectly legal. So they too have submitted a comment and it’s one of epic proportions. I suggest you read the whole thing, but here’s the money shot . . .
“The NFA’s CLEO requirement must be put in perspective. While a federal application to operate a nuclear reactor is blindingly voluminous, covering topics ranging from reactor security to environmental impact, the 10,000-plus-page application does not require a single CLEO certification. The federal application to handle, distribute, or manufacture substances such as cocaine, heroin, and MDMA under the Controlled Substances Act requires no CLEO certification. The USDA license to breed, own, and exhibit dangerous wild animals such as lions and tigers likewise contains no CLEO certification requirement. While some believe it is an oversimplification to state that “guns don’t kill people,” nuclear meltdowns, cocaine, and wild tigers clearly do kill people. Criminal history and mental stability are undeniably-relevant factors for consideration of applications to participate in such dangerous and highly-regulated activities. Yet, the responsible agencies have been able to analyze and regulate such applications—even within the all-encompassing context of a 10,000-page application to operate a nuclear reactor—without resorting to certifications from local or state chief law enforcement officials.”
Yeah, that pretty much sums up how dumb the ATF’s CLEO sign-off requirement is here in the real world.