Archive for the 'BATFE' Category

There are a number of things to digest here.  First, this video explains the background.

Second, this video is the perspective of GOA when they submitted the brief to the court.

Third, this is the result.

BREAKING: The U.S District Court for the District of North Dakota Eastern Division has denied GOA and GOF's request for a preliminary injunction against the ATF's Frame & Receiver Rule. pic.twitter.com/cdVpfqTI4y

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) August 23, 2022

Another tyrant in a black robe, coupled with tyrants inside the beltway, all of whom should be fired and the agency disbanded.

Fourth, this is another follow-on from the rule, said rulemaking which should never have been done, and which should have gone through the comment period.

This ATF rule makes it so EVERY SINGLE firearm transaction record (Form 4473) will eventually end up in a digital searchable database, rather than be destroyed after 20 years. But somehow, THAT isn't a violation of the prohibition on creating a gun registry!? ‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/ADNoHXa5R0

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) August 23, 2022

Take it all under advisement, dear readers.  Hope, work and pray for the best, prepare for the worst.  They have made it clear that they don’t care about the law, and they don’t even care anymore that you know that they don’t care.  ATF agents should be mighty proud tonight.  How can they look themselves in the mirror and answer questions from their children about their work without holding their heads down in shame?

Your firearms are your birthright as an American, and the underlying moral code which justifies it comes from the Almighty.

Smith & Wesson has issued a statement amid unprecedented attacks on the gun industry. Read the whole thing.

Next, Duke University is out with an analysis of lower court decisions in the aftermath of Bruen. You can read their summary.

Since Bruen was issued on June 23, lower courts have begun to apply its new framework to Second Amendment challenges.  As of today there are no major developments in the four cases that the Court GVR’ed shortly after Bruen, which include a challenge to Hawaii’s proper-cause analogue, two magazine-capacity cases, and a challenge to Maryland’s assault weapons ban.  However, in the month following Bruen, some state and lower federal courts have issued decisions invoking Bruen.  This post summarizes a handful of notable decisions.

Bruen is being ignored by a Federal Judge in Minnesota. Nobody is surprised that the Left ignores the law; they are anarchists top to bottom.

Next, Missouri Sheriffs continue resisting the FBI’s CCW list audit. They want the list; make no mistake. It has nothing to do with crime or public safety; they want you in a database.

Wheatley is among the sheriffs who received an email from Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office on Aug. 9 in which he reminded law enforcement officers not to comply.

“We’re the highest ranking freely elected law enforcement of the state and it’s up to us to stand up for the rights of Missouri citizens,” Wheatley told the Epoch Times.

“The federal government, they overstep some, and it’s our job to put them in check and stand up for what we know is right.”

Also, the Washington Times has an opinion piece about BATFE’s new NICS denial and delay procedures. Any third grader can see this will eventually lead to every purchase being delayed, the purchaser being investigated, and serial numbers captured. They want to attain their holy grail database, implemented so they can make you turn them in. How do we know this? Because that’s what they’ve done the world over for generations.

Gun owners and constitutionalists at large are growing increasingly concerned by an invasive new policy to be enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which will mandate the reporting of background-check delays and denials to local law enforcement when someone tries to purchase a firearm. We can already predict the negative consequences of this poorly designed policy, with innocent individuals trying to buy a gun being inadvertently flagged by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and, shortly after, angrily greeting law enforcement at their front door.

Tom Knighton, at Bearing Arms, is a Statist shilling for the ATF:

Now, the law they’re citing does indeed require gun stores to report all denied NICS checks. This is one of those things that few people really have an issue with in the grand scheme of things. After all, a denied check is grounds to at least see if the individual in question is a criminal trying to commit an illegal act.

If it’s not, then hopefully whatever led to the denial can be fixed.

But as the letter notes, the ATF is demanding contact information for delayed NICS checks.

For the uninitiated, this may make perfect sense. After all, we don’t know if those delayed checks are criminals trying to buy guns or not.

The ATF shouldn’t exist at all, in any form, yet in this, we are supposed to put our hope? That’s laughable. I’m one of the “few” that has a huge problem with this! Hope in government is the very definition of the Idolatry of State worship.

From the article:

Ammoland.

“I don’t know what the mission really is anymore, but I don’t like it. For the past couple of years, I have found myself asking “why” a lot more often. As of late, the answer is typically because “they” said so. I still don’t know who “they” are. But I seem to disagree with whoever “they” are on pretty much everything,” Garcia wrote in his resignation letter.”

“The last time morale was this low with ATF was probably 2013-2016. Coincidentally, that was also the last time we had an administration openly criticize law enforcement,” Garcia wrote. “Both administrations preached diversity, or rather “celebrate” it, but then expect everyone to have the same liberal opinion.”

“Did our leaders forget that ATF agents are law enforcement? Most agents are pro-gun. All agents should be anti-criminal. We did not become ATF agents so we could collect data, ensure firearms are in compliance, seize trigger groups, argue about what a firearm is or is not, seize firearms for reasons other than prosecuting criminals, or spend countless hours inputting data to justify someone else’s existence in HQ. We became ATF agents so we could work the streets and smack evil in the mouth. We took this job because we are willing to risk it all and hope that we can make the streets just a little bit safer for the law abiding, upstanding citizens of the USA. At least that’s why I became an ATF agent,” Garcia wrote.

“We can probably agree that law abiding citizens do not commit gun crime. I think that we can probably also agree that the majority of gun owners tend to be more conservative than liberal. So essentially, gun control will only affect law abiding, conservative citizens. Therefore, the Government is only punishing the conservative population. Similarly, in the summer of 2020, rioters were allowed to burn cities, assault the police, and terrorize citizens with little to no consequence. However, the chaos associated with January 6 has resulted in hundreds and hundreds of prosecutions. The vast majority of the defendants have been convicted of simply being there. They didn’t even have pallets of bricks or frozen water bottles staged at the scene, let alone Molotov cocktails for them to throw at the police. Still, 18 months later, the left continues to be absolutely obsessed with it,” Garcia said.

So let me get this straight.  After Ruby Ridge, the Waco, Texas, ATF siege, and gun running in the fast and furious scandal, this agent is just now coming to the conclusion agents of the FedGov are doing things that are untoward?

I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy for him or his ilk.  A patriot would never have taken a job with the ATF to begin with.  There’s that thing about “shall not be infringed” and what the Westminster Confession of Faith says about lawful oaths and vows that would have troubled me.

Source.

I checked with Cloud Defensive because I didn’t have a URL for this and they responded that they had indeed issued this statement over their Instagram account (I don’t have an account at Instagram).

Good for Cloud Defensive.  Thank you for taking a stand.

The ATF wants to perform an audit in the show-me state.  From reader Wes, the Missouri AG told the ATF to stay away from Missouri.  This is a good letter, but misses one important aspect.  More on that in a moment.

Here’s an update from Sheriff Bryan Whitney.

“As the sheriff of Scotland County, I want all my citizens to know that I will not allow, cooperate or release any CCW information to the FBI, ‘even at the threat of a federal arrest,’” Republican Scotland County Sheriff Bryan Whitney wrote to residents of his community on Monday.

“Point Blank, ‘I will go down with the ship if need be,’” the letter, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, said.

Whitney said he was prompted to send the letter to his community in northeastern Missouri after he was alerted to the FBI audit set to be carried out in 24 counties in Missouri next month. It’s unclear which counties will be included in the audit.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also demanded that the FBI “cease their attempts to illegally obtain information from local sheriffs on Missourians who have concealed carry permits,” and sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on the matter last week.

“The FBI has absolutely no business poking around in the private information of those who have obtained a concealed carry permit in Missouri,” Schmitt said, according to a press release. “The Second Amendment rights of Missourians will absolutely not be infringed on my watch. I will use the full power of my Office to stop the FBI, which has become relentlessly politicized and has virtually no credibility, from illegally prying around in the personal information of Missouri gun owners.”

Schmitt outlined to Wray that under Missouri law it is illegal to share the confidential list with the federal government. The law was passed after “it became known that the Obama Administration wanted to know which Missourians had firearms, supposedly to establish who was entitled to federal benefits.”

No, no, no, no, no, and a thousand times no.  NO!

Don’t go “down with the ship.”  Do your job and keep the ship from sinking to begin with.

Send your deputies to arrest agents of the FedGov as soon as they cross the county line and throw them in prison.  Only release them at the county line, sending them packing on their way back to whatever rock they crawled out from under.

Do the right thing, Sheriff.  Protect the citizens of your county.  This is what the AG should have said.  They will be arrested if they try to do this.

I cannot locate any email address for the Sheriff or I would send this to him for encouragement to do the right thing.

He should have said “I do not allow law enforcement on my property without a warrant.  I’m calling 911 now about your trespassing, and if you return, you must have a warrant.

This is just an idiotic fishing expedition.  That cop who’s with the ATF agents should be ashamed of himself.

Story at WoG:

“Looks Like He’s Going to Get the Chance to Raise His Hand and Lie”

Via CNN: The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Steve Dettelbach as President Joe Biden’s pick to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Successful confirmation of the nominee is a victory for the Biden administration and comes in the wake of a string of recent mass shootings – in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas and Highland Park, Illinois – that have shocked the nation and led to calls for further action to address gun violence in America.

The confirmation vote marks a major milestone since the ATF has operated under a series of acting directors since its last Senate-confirmed leader stepped down in 2015, and the Senate last confirmed an ATF nominee in 2013.

Issuing letters, rescinding those letters, warning against doing the same thing in the very letter they sent to rescind the initial order, trying to stay out of court, confiscating without arrests, and on and on the merry-go-round spins.

Oooo … an Ashville MSM journalist writes a breathless article about ghost guns.  We should all be askeerd.

“In the case of the pistols here that you see, these were all purchased in undercover investigations by ATF,” Mein said.

The area of the frame or receiver where a manufacturer is required to add crucial serial numbers on these kits is blank.

“Those markings give us the ability to trace that gun. By tracing the firearm, we’re finding out who manufactured it, who retail sold it and who the original purchaser is,” Mein said.

The firearms anonymity is driving up their presence at crime scenes.

Let’s stop right there.  Firearms anonymity cannot possibly do or cause anything.  Maybe they don’t teach journalism or logic in college any more.

If unserialized firearms (that’s what we should call them) are more prevalent than in years gone by, that could explain an increased prevalence in crime scenes.  It would only stand to reason if the firearms at crime scenes are a cross section of the firearms in circulation.

As for the notion that serialization is “crucial,” that’s preposterous.  Person-to-person sales are still legal and the work to trace a firearm all the way back to the original buyer means absolutely nothing.  This is a raw ploy to scare the ignorant and easily scared into demanding laws against manufacture of their own weapons and person-to-person sales, and the ATF isn’t just going along with it all, I wouldn’t be surprised if the idea for the story came from them.

A federal rule change in April now makes those kits easier to trace. It will require serial numbers to be included on the frame or receiver. Sellers must also be licensed.

“It would provide that background screening,” King said.

Licensed manufacturer Phil Flack agreed serial numbers help investigators with cases.

“I think so, in one sense for the law enforcement community,” said Flack, owner of P.F. Custom Guns in Buncombe County.

Still, Flack continued, “The law has always allowed for individuals to manufacture their own firearms.”

He is worried new rules could impact enthusiasts and hobbyists more than criminals.

“If you’re going after somebody who’s not really a threat, what have you accomplished,” Flack said.

Phil, haven’t you learned how this works yet?  Don’t talk to the press – nothing good can come of it.

Via correspondent Roger.