ATF is attempting to push through a "clarification" reclassifying the 8-year old approved pistol braces as Class 3 ATF tax stamped SBRs... in some configurations.
I'll admit that I haven't paid a lot of attention to this issue. My gut feeling, back when the pistol braces came out, was that they were a nifty way of skirting arund the SBR rules.
ATF has a tendency to operate on pornography rules, in that they know it when they see it. That makes it pretty difficult for manufacturers, who I believe did submit these things to ATF at the start, to figure out how to comply with the mercurial nature of ATF bureaucracy.
The pernicious thing, here, is that ATF may require everyone who bought one to retroactively register it as a SBR.[1] I have no idea how many of these things have been sold, but it could be into six or seven figures. Vhanging the rules after the products have been sold is just evil and is in keeping with ATF's tradition.[2]
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1. There may have been some intervening boating accidents.
2. This is with the Republicans still in charge, mind you. So when Trump went to those conventions to tell NRA members that he has their back, it was just another lie from The Donald.
The Donald may not be directly good for that, But I'm sure a second Clinton would have been worse.
ReplyDeleteAnd he has done pretty good work with the courts for four years. Following the law and the Constitution should work out.
Yeah, sure. How’s the Hearing Protection Act bill work out? Trump put zero political muscle into that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if your only hope is the courts, you’ve lost the argument (for whatever right you claim).
ReplyDeleteSerious question: where should my hope be placed? The next best one I have is the fellow citizens who emptied the stores out this year.
ReplyDeleteThere is a comment period open, but I have no faith in that. ATF is one of those agencies that regards the public comment period as a sham (the FAA is another); if 98% of the commenters oppose it, they'll still do it.
ReplyDeleteThe estimates that I've seen are that there are over four million guns out there with arm braces. I can't see ATF processing all those applications.
More to the point, arm braces (and 80% receiver kits) are going away real soon. All of the idiots who thought that those kits were untraceable are going to learn otherwise.
Word is that ATF has backed down, for now.
ReplyDelete