How the Obama Administration intends to Squeeze the small business owner

Obama Administration is looking to declare gunsmiths as Firearms "manufacturers" and place them under ITARS licensing requirements.

The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) has reviewed and consolidated policy guidance about whether various activities related to firearms constitute manufacturing for International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 CFR Parts 120-130) purposes and require registration with DDTC and payment of a registration fee. DDTC has found that many – but not all - traditional gunsmithing activities do not constitute manufacturing for ITAR purposes and, therefore, do not require registration with DDTC.

NSSF Statement Regarding DDTC’s Recent Firearms “Guidance” on Registration

August 6, 2016 By nssfnews

On July 22 the U.S. Department of State – Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued “guidance” meant to clarify who is required under the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to register as a “manufacturer” of “defense articles,” which includes firearms and ammunition products (U.S. Munitions List Categories I – III), and pay an exorbitant annual $2,250 registration fee. Under the law, registration is required even if the manufacturer does not export and even if the manufacturer makes component parts.

DDTC asserts that the guidance merely restates existing DDTC policy and interpretation of the AECA and ITAR manufacturer registration requirement.

Unfortunately, DDTC’s “guidance” has created considerable and understandable confusion and concern among gunsmiths and gun owners. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is reviewing the guidance and will send a letter of protest to DDTC expressing our strong opposition to the new “guidance,” the scope of which clearly exceeds their statutory authority. The term “manufacture” as used in the AECA and ITAR is its ordinary dictionary definition. Clearly, many of the activities DDTC claims require registration constitutes gun smithing and is not manufacturing under any reasonable dictionary definition of the term. DDTC’s position is similar to claiming an auto mechanic who fixes your car is a car manufacturer.

NSSF has been working diligently for many years to eliminate, or at least significantly lower, the excessive and burdensome registration fee especially for non-exporting manufacturers and non-essential component parts manufacturers. Simply put, forcing small manufacturer to pay $2,250 annually to register when they are not utilizing the DDTC export licensing system to export products is an unfair and onerous regulatory burden. This is even more outrageous when one considers that DDTC is sitting on at least $140 million dollars of previously paid registration fees collected over many years from exporters from many industries including ours.

Additionally, we have been working with allies in Congress to pressure the Obama administration to complete the Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative, which would with limited exceptions do away with the AECA and ITAR manufacturer registration requirement and onerous fee for commercial and sporting firearms.

Big government hates small business. They are loose canons and the only really “free” Americans. The goal is to replace all small business with large corporations, and the reason is simple:

If every single american “wins their bread” through working for the government or big business, the individual rights spelled out in the constitution are not worth the paper they are written on. It’s already true for most Americans.

The interesting thing is that this is true all the way up to the CEO. People have been fired for what they post on Facebook in their free time. People have been forced out (major league team owner) for what they said in an illegally recorded phone call. A member of our military was court-marshaled for refusing to remove a bible verse from her desk.

You would think these are all protected by the first amendment. Think again.

Small business owners can do whatever they want as long as customers will do business with them. The globalists need to stop them. This is why so many of the laws against business today are no big deal to large corporations, but absolutely cripple small business.

That is the intent.

I went through this a few years back. Before “under the radar” gun restrictions I had a customer that wanted me to manufacture AR-10 lowers. It was relatively easy to apply for the ATF license so I did and waited. A few weeks later they asked for my ITAR stamp and a bunch of other nonsense that would have added another $3000 per year to the ATF fees. Needless to say I never got my license. Since then the ATF has sent goons to test if I will make firearm parts and then send their agents to attempt to inspect my shop. I tell them to piss off and if they want inside they can bring a warrant. They don’t like that.

Piss on Obama. The man is a petulant thug.

Thank you for referencing that article Cliff Dweller. Please note that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.

Regarding Obama’s plan to make things difficult for INTRAstate gunsmiths, please consider the following. Regardless what FDR’s state sovereignty-ignoring activist justices wanted everybody to think about the scope of Congress’s Commerce Clause powers, a previous generation of state sovereignty-respecting justices had clarified just the opposite.

More specifically, not only have the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate intrastate commerce, but also that powers not expressly constitutionally delegated to the feds by the states are prohbited to the feds.

”State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.

It’s no surprise that low-information Obama’s plan to legally define gunsmiths as manufacturers completely overlooks that the states have never delegated to the feds, the specific power to regulate intrastate manufacturing imo.

In fact, note that the states had ratified the 18th Amendment (18A) to prohibit the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages, Obama’s plan requiring a similar amendment to regulate gunsmiths imo. (Note that 18A was later repealed by 21A.)

Also, consider that corrupt, state-sovereignty ignoring Congress predictably will not lift a finger to stop last-term Obama if he steals 10th Amendment (10A)-protected state powers to implement his plan. This is why patriots need to support Trump with a new, state sovereignty-respecting Congress.

Also consider that corrupt Congress is effectively using the 22nd Amendment (22A) as an excuse to not impeach and remove incompetent last-term presidents like Obama from office. Patriots need to exercise their voting muscle to “force” the corrupt feds to surrender stolen 10A-protected state powers that they have stolen from the states back to the states and repeal 22A.

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