Free Republic

Oppose BATFE's Expansion of the Federal "Armor Piercing" Ammo Ban and Tell Congress to Act President Obama insisted that if Congress would not enact his gun control agenda, he would do so on his own, through executive action. Whatever else can be said of the president’s track record, he is doing his utmost to keep that promise. Having failed to enact a federal ban on the AR-15, America’s most popular rifle, he’s now using the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to do the next best thing. BATFE is now proposing to ban a whole class of common...

As it wanes, the Obama administration grows bold, and even reckless, on matters that send a thrill up the leg of its most leftward supporters. Its new attack on so-called armor-piercing ammunition — which is, in reality, a very broad attack on ammunition across the board — is a dangerous and destructive example of the administration’s late-days slide into rule-by-decree. A little background, which is unavoidably weedy: In 1986, Congress revised the Gun Control Act, inserting prohibitions against the manufacture and import of “armor-piercing ammunition.” Armor-piercing ammunition does not mean ammunition designed to defeat body armor — that would be...

It looks like the ATF is once again trying to make it as difficult as possible for hunters and target shooters to enjoy their Constitutionally protected activities. Last week the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives posted a white paper on their website which attempted to do some very shady wordsmithing, the end result of which would be a ban on some of the most commonly available 5.56 NATO ammunition in the United States — ammunition used regularly for bona fide “sporting purposes.” Yet the ATF doesn’t seem to give a damn about that. Which is worrying, since the...

"Some ammunition that was previously exempted as “primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes,” specifically 5.56mm constituent projectiles of SS109 and M855 cartridges, will again be regulated as “armor piercing ammunition.” Except as provided by law, no person may manufacture or import such ammunition, and manufacturers or importers may not sell or deliver such ammunition. ATF will maintain the exemption for 30-06 M2AP cartridges Proposed change to ATF regulatory framework for "armor piercing" ammunition.

Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner has introduced legislation to eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement agency with 5000 employees. If passed, the legislation would dissolve the duties of ATF to the FBI and DEA. From the legislation:

They spent a year collecting used ammunition around Joint Base Lewis-McChord and melting it to sell as scrap metal – until one of the rounds exploded at a Tacoma home, injuring the couple and tipping police off to what they’d been up to. Pierce County prosecutors have charged Juliette Parker, 32, and Cody Hyman, 27, with possession of an explosive device, third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. The couple, who now live in Texas, is set to be arraigned June 23. Agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives joined the investigation and helped search the home....

resident Barack Obama Tuesday suggested that the U.S. government should follow Australia’s example in dealing with shooting sprees, which involved strict gun bans on semiautomatic and automatic weapons. “Australia had a mass shooting [in 1996] similar to Columbine and Newtown, and just said, ‘That’s it, we’re not seeing that again,’ and basically imposed very severe tough gun laws and they haven’t had a mass shooting since,” Obama said, after he was asked for his reaction to recent shooting episodes in California and Oregon. Those laws included the confiscation of nearly all handguns and rifles. “We can have respect for the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is re-establishing a law enforcement group to fight those it designates as domestic terrorists, with an announcement expected on Tuesday, Department of Justice officials said. Following hate-motivated shootings such as the one at a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri in April, federal prosecutors have pressed the need to coordinate intelligence of such criminals on a national level, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The group will coordinate cases that involve Americans who may be spurred to violence for political or prejudicial reasons.

(WXYZ) - Keeping guns away from violent criminals is a top priority for hundreds of federal agents here in Detroit. 7 Action News Investigator Heather Catallo had an exclusive look inside the top-secret gun vaults at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It's a fascinating glimpse inside the ATF’s battle against violence and crime in Southeast Michigan. The vaults at the Detroit Field Division house the weapons seized during criminal investigations, and the 7 Investigators got to see what’s normally kept under lock and key. Four vaults inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Detroit Field...

ATF Adding More NFA Branch Staff, Reducing Backlog, Re-Designing eForms System. Again.By Nick Leghorn on April 17, 2014 The Truth About Guns TTAG has just received the following email from the ATF about the current status of the National Firearms Act branch, the group responsible for approving the paperwork needed to own fun stuff like silencers and short barreled firearms in the United States. The long and the short of it is that they’ve hired yet more staff and they are finally making a dent in the backlog of paperwork, but it’s going to be a long slog ahead until...

Warning follows threat from Harry Reid that grazing dispute 'not over' The chief of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association says his sources inside the federal government are warning that Washington’s weekend retreat in a dispute over grazing land in Nevada was just to distract and defuse – because a raid on the family’s ranch still is being strategized. And there probably would be violence involved, said Richard Mack, the former sheriff of Grisham County, Ariz. “I don’t think it would be possible” to launch a raid without violence, he told WND Monday. “I don’t the Bundys would lie...

Attorneys for the Reese family filed a petition for rehearing en banc Tuesday in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver. This latest move by the defense challenges a March 19 decision by a three judge panel overturning a District Court decision that the family of former gun dealers merited a new trial based on the prosecution withholding evidence that a witness had been the subject of a criminal investigation. The panel’s ruling last month was another in a series of setbacks for a family that has endured an ordeal approaching three years. Arrested in...

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Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s decades-long battle against the federal government over grazing rights has heated to the point where militia groups have joined in and taken up spots against the feds who’ve circled his land — and talk is, they’re not afraid to open fire. A spokesman for the one of the militia groups said as much to local 8 News Now: I’m not “afraid to shoot,” he said. Margaret Houston, Mr. Bundy’s sister and a cancer survivor, said at a town hall gathering this week that the situation “was like a war zone” and that she felt “like I...

VICTOR, Mont. - ATF officials and the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office are asking for the public’s help in locating recently stolen explosives. Investigators say the stolen materials include roughly 285 pounds of high explosives in the form of ANFO (Ammonium nitrate fuel oil), explosive boosters and dynamite. The materials were stolen around March 15 to April 1, from a storage facility operated by Ajax Contracting Inc. west of Victor. “These are dangerous items,” said ATF Agent Ken Bray. “That's why they're stored under very stringent regulations. They're used by trained professionals, and any time these are stolen and out in...

Dan Zimmerman at The Truth About Guns asks Could Connecticut Gun Laws Spark Another Waco?There’s been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticut’s finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the state’s 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw...

David Hardy , on his blog Of Arms and the Law, brought to my attention a recent case involving the BATFE and gun mufflers.   David's article is worthwhile, but other parts of the case deserve some comment.   In Innovator Enterprises v. United States, the D.C. district court held that the BATFE may not be "arbitrary and capricious", and holds that in the case in question they are exactly that. This cuts to the quick of much of the BATFE modus operandi.   Not having clearly written down standards or procedures; arbitrarily changing rules after making a determination, feeling the political...

The United States District Court, Southern District of California on Wednesday granted a joint motion filed earlier in the day by attorneys for Ares Armor and the Department of Justice. The order vacated as moot a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for Thursday, vacated the Temporary Restraining Order issued on March 11 (and the modification issued on March 14), and affirmed Ares Armor’s rights to file an amended complaint and to seek further injunctive relief. “In consideration of the specific injunctive relief requested by the [temporary restraining order obtained by Ares Armor on March 11] to prevent the seizure of the...

SAN DIEGO – With a search warrant in hand, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confiscated computers, customer lists and the questionable polymer 80 percent lower receivers from four Ares Armor store locations throughout San Diego County over the weekend. “There were women and children inside our retail establishment when the (ATF) agents came in with guns drawn,” said Ares Armor Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. “They came into our firearms manufacturing facility saying, ‘Arms up!’  like they were invading Iraq.” The raid happened three days after Ares owner was granted a temporary restraining by a...

I have been trying to make sense of the current chaos involving EPArmory 80% lowers, the BATFE, and Aries Armor.   Kilbreaux at the eparmory.com forum has some cogent analysis: Of course I wonder just what IF anything the ATF can do in terms of retrieving receivers from customers. First, a significant number of receivers had to be OTC, cash sales…no way to track those people down. For the CC internet customers, so they find out who they are…how do they prove the parts received were manufactured in such a manner as to be considered a firearm? Assuming they even...