This Week in Gun Rights is TTAG’s weekly roundup of legal, legislative and other news affecting guns, the gun business and gun owners’ rights.
Update and advice on the ATF proposed rule change
We’ve been talking about this for a while, but last week saw the ATF finally posted the purported final version of their new “frame or receiver” rule. The clear intention of the ATF’s rulemaking is to vaporize the 80% market. Not just cripple it, but entirely delete it.
As compared to the original leaked document, they’ve made a few structural changes, and fixed a couple grammatical error. Most interestingly, they’ve added a list of factors that one can consider in trying to divine what part (or parts) the ATF thinks is a “frame or receiver,” thus requiring an FFL for transfer.
I had made a video last week giving some general advice on commenting, and many have written me asking why they couldn’t seem to make a comment on the proposed rule. Well, interestingly, that’s because the ATF still hasn’t published its proposed rule.
That’s kind of odd, as usually the announcement coincides with publishing the proposed rule on regulations.gov. In this case, though, we got the announcement followed by over a week of silence.
Luckily, the time period for comments won’t begin to run until ATF gets around to actually publishing the rule. So don’t fret, but we’ll be keeping our eyes out for the rule to (officially) drop.
In the meantime, you should take a moment to read the rule, identify issues you see, its legality, its enforceability, and any other factors that point out just how clownish this rule is, so you’re ready to go when the time comes.
It’s important to remember: commenting isn’t just for political activists and lawyers. It’s one of the only ways ordinary Americans, with our wealth of diverse experiences, can directly tell a captive federal audience how ludicrous what they’re trying to do is. Don’t be discouraged. The concern you raise could be the one that throws the proverbial wrench in the government’s gears.
Say Hello to the heroes of Colorado’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention
A Colorado bill is heading to the House, proposing to blast $3 million to create an agency to act as a clearinghouse on gun violence data. The “Office of Gun Violence Prevention” would sniff through data and use it to create public service advertisements and the like.
Gun controllers have an interesting fixation with “gun violence” data. The problem is, of course, that history has shown that gun controllers seem to gravitate towards bad data and making impermissible connections.
For example, speaking about “gun deaths” without separating out suicides. The agency’s stated purpose: preventing suicides and gang-related violence, are surely things most of us can get behind. Call me jaded, but the buzzwords make me suspicious of the intentions of these people.
New Jersey task force searching for smart guns
New Jersey, a state that has longed openly to ban ordinary handguns once “smart guns” come to exist, has assembled a new commission tasked with approving “smart guns.” Of course there are lots of problems here, but one of them boils to the top: the composition of the commission.
It’s staffed with people either directly or with ancillary connections to the “smart gun” industry. For example, in this article which interviewed “Timmy Oh,” who claims to be a gun guy (immediately suspicious given his poetic waxing on the 1911) happens to own a company selling “smart” fingerprint-unlocked holsters.
We all know smart gun technology exists only to rob working-class Americans of the ability to buy an effective firearm for a reasonable price, and to enrich whoever has the first “approved” technology. New Jersey’s strategy is an unusually transparent display of gun control chrony-ism.
Dishonesty and Deceit: Is the murder rate peaking?
In a very misleading way, politicians are kvetching that the murder rate has seen the largest one-year increase in U.S. history, and that we’ve reached “levels not seen since the 1990’s.” How true are these claims?
In reality, the murder rates are only touching levels seen at the very tail of 1998…and couldn’t possibly have anything to do with tremendous social unrest and a deeply divided nation. It’s definitely, assuredly a gun problem. Or so we’re led to believe by all of the smartest people.
It’s always entertaining to see gun violence “researchers” refuse to zoom out of trendlines. A simple look back shows that we’re still, thankfully, at levels of violence that haven’t been so low since before the government launched the drug war, a bloody campaign which the drugs have been winning for decades.
SIG SAUER suing Springfield Armory over magazine patent
Everything old is new again and everything new is likely old. Even so, SIG has launched a suit at Springfield, targeting the Hellcat’s magazine. And finally . . .
Putin orders new gun laws after school shooting
Following a school shooting with a self-loading shotgun in the Russian city of Kazan, Vladimir Putin immediately ordered an overhaul of the nation’s gun laws. Russia actually has a fairly deep shotgun shooting culture, with civilian-owned shotguns being fairly common in the country.
What’s most interesting is the reference to “US-style” shootings, and a claim that in Russia exist a group called “Columbiners,” who allegedly worship the Columbine murderers.
It seems no matter where mass murders happen, people can’t help but blame Americans. Perhaps because recognizing that the evil nature of humans isn’t limited to one nation’s borders would undermine the now-international narrative that Americans should give up what’s left of our natural right to armed self defense.
I will not comply.
You should observe op. sec.
Be the gray man and they won’t even see you.
Yup
You think they don’t know your stance?
You comment the same as everyone else online. Opsec, get fucking real. The most opsec you are going to get is a new screen name and a VPN yearly renewal. Whatever helps you feel safe tho…
This is TTAG, not a fucking mission briefing. Buy some stamps and stfu if you’re scared.
Exactly.
You can’t be a grey man and a patriot at the same time. If the feds don’t have your name down somewhere then you aren’t helping anyone
All of this garbage continues to happen all because the “Gun” is always the one on trial while the mountains of racism and genocide attributed to Gun Control gets an almost complete pass. To ignore those, to forget those throughout history who were subjected to the wrath of Gun Control is to condone it.
The ATF will next categorize paperweight frag grenades, drilled and deactivated, as actual grenades. LOL.
I’m sorry ATF, paperweights are paperweights, and you will lose in court, because the text of the law matters, not your feelz.
Someone needs to tactfully show Vladimir how to wear ear muffs before he chokes himself out.
I’m sure someone who rose to the top of the KGB in the day, likely will not care, or for some reason likes it that way. Then again one of the preferred methods to eliminate a possible mole within the organization was for the individual to be asked to go to lunch by way of a basement hallway. He may hear the footsteps before being shot in the back of the head. Hearing protection might have been a give away.
Or, to attend a meeting, and be the “Thirteenth Chair.”
Multiple ways to wear headphones and protection, some people wear em on the front.
I think he doesn’t want the balding spot on the top of his head being unnecessarily rubbed.
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they are doing these small changes in order to find out who’s leaking the docs.
that makes two of us
This is one of the few–and better–Constitutional gun law expert attorneys out there. His videos are very clear and informative. He’s obviously a super pro-gun patriot and these are the guys we need helping us on our side. I understand that he was consulted in the strange and critical March 3rd case of Christopher Justin Erwin and the auto card key ATF raid and Erwin’s arrest for the alleged selling of a ‘machine gun’ according to a long standing ATF ‘rule’ that any firearm part that is used exclusively in, or to covert a firearm into a machine gun. automatically, even by itself, is also considered to BE an MG, the possession of which punishable by 10 years and a quarter-million fine! They seized his bank accounts and business property in the raid along with no bail due to a specious notion as a flight risk.
This is a very interesting case because This lawyer Matt did a video analyzing how something like a part, which in and of itself does not even fit the definition of a firearm, can even be reasonably considered to be an MG in the first place?! And this particular novelty ‘card’ was just and illustration and didn’t even rise to a ready to assemble part either?
And it appears that a couple of other recent court cases are asking this question because according to the cases presented by their defense attornies in these cases convinced the judges that AR-15 uppers or completed lowers,in separated condition, are NOT firearms according to the legal definition of a firearm. IOW. how can any individual component, or pile of unassembled parts, then, be illegal to possess or considered to be a firearm, when they do not, in and of themselves, rise to the definition of a ‘firearm’ which must contain at least three to four parts, IN the so-called Frame, and be able to expel a projectile from explosive powder?
So the judges in these cases ruled in favor that the pieces of so-called weaponry discovered by the arresting agents was Not amounting to a firearm, so he wasn’t in ‘possession’ of a firearm in the first place…so could not be charged and that part of the case was dismissed.
So it appears that this Erwin case should be difficult for the ATF to Slam dunk on the 2nd/A like they usually get away with???
That is if the typical skewed justice system tactics in such cases don’t succeed in ‘breaking down’ Erwin’s resolve to fight it with a trial…? There’s a lot at stake here, for both the victim defendant, and the G. And interpreting and manipulating the ‘law’ in their own favor is the G’s prosecutorial business…
…and business is good.
Go to this Lawyer’s link and contribute to Erwin’s Go Fund Me account or CRS Firearms youtube blogs which I know helped set up and promote the Go fund me account and link to it there. He also is helping out with this cause. Everyone out there should think about this and realize how important it is to preclude an obviously illegal attempt by this New Administration’s clear and present dangerous anti-private gun ownership attempt to back door an unlawful registration program for an ultimate gun confiscation agenda?
I wish America had a cool president like like Putin
No, instead we got,, , theBiden, whoopie.
…with KamelToe on top. (though I don’t think she still has a cherry)
In either orifice.
Rather ANY orifice!
Agreed.
Putin is a badazz. Rides bare shirted on a rhino, vodka in one hand and a custom AK in the other.
I seen the pictures.
Seriously! /sarc
He does seem to like projecting the ‘Strongman of Russia’ thing to his people.
Still…He’s way better than Creepy Joe.
Way Better!
The slope is greasey.
ATF coming for L shaped pop tarts soon enough
“Columbiners” are real. A couple years ago, one showed up in Colorado from Florida, and she bought a shotgun. The police couldn’t find her and schools were closed because of fears that she would show up and start shooting. She eventually took an Uber up to Echo Lake and shot herself. There are so many people that make pilgrimages to Columbine High School that the superintendent proposed tearing it down a couple years ago.
Here Ya go for those who want the back story.
Teen ‘infatuated’ with Columbine and deemed a threat is found dead; wrote about suicide, guns in apparent journal
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-infatuated-columbine-wrote-about-suicide-guns-apparent-journal-n995416
Must be nice to have the power to sit around and make up “Rules” that infringe on Americans rights… and do this on a whim while being able to change it at will. Is Hitler running that bunch?
Hitler is Dead…Just not his Ideology and Tactics. History is being repeated before Our very eyes and many like the Jews refuse to see.
Tons of shit was adopted by America and its allies after Nazi Germany. Hell, we even put the Nazis back to work and ignored tons of shit because it was beneficial to the installation of democracy. All governments are the same.
More so with Japan. Look up Unit 731 and see why relations with China and Japan are still frosty to this day. Unit 731 makes the worst of Joseph Mengele look mild in comparison.
holy crap batman….the proposed rule is 115 pages long….its so long there could be something in it that I have to love my mother-in-law and I wouldn’t know it, because, ghee whiz….who is going to read and comment on 115 pages
Anybody buying an 80% polymer lower in the day of $200 3d printers is a moron in the first place.
But . . . . . still support the concept from a personal rights perspective.
I only paid $25 for the 80% polymer lower tho…
I’ll respond when the rule hits the street and the public response period officially begins. Not before, because I’ve no doubt that responses before will be zhit canned, and never see the light of day. It makes no real difference, because they’re not going to change their goal no matter how overwhelming the negative response is.
Our government is out of control. The sooner we accept that fact, the sooner we can take the steps to fix it, as described by the Declaration of Independence, NOT the Constitution. I say that because the controls established in the Constitution, by which We the People limit our Government are broken and beyond repair. No legislation will rectify the Totalitarian Beast our Government has grown into. No election will change this leviathan. It must be surgically removed as the malignancy it has become.
The time for rebellion creeps closer with each passing day. We must steel ourselves to act before the ability to rebel is beyond our grasp, because that is what is happening right now. A planned course of action designed to reduce us to mere chattel of the State, not citizens, Slaves! Anyone who believes we can elect ourselves out of this mess, is naive.
I’ve no doubt triggered a visit from the State’s Gestapo with my verbiage. So be it! I’ve no illusions about surviving said visitation. But I will die in a pile of spent brass before I’ll ever submit to this rogue government, and I’ll take as many Schutzstaffel agents as I’m capable of with me.
As far as I’m concerned, the pronouncement that “No Amendment Is Absolute,” by the Senile A-Hole & Fool occupying the Oval Office, was a Declaration of War against the citizens of this nation.
We all better get on the same page pretty quickly, lest we lose our Freedom and Liberty, because once it’s taken, we’ll never get it back.