The Weapon Blog
10 Months To 1 Day
During their daily staff reports in March, employees at Silencer Central headquarters noticed something very strange.
New customer orders looked normal. Suppressor shipments were on track. But the customers whose applications had been approved by the ATF? Those had skyrocketed.
“We started getting quick approvals. Uncharacteristically quick,” says Brandon Maddox, founder and CEO of Silencer Central. “I’m always listening to that morning update for how many [ATF applications] we’re getting approved. Maybe a hundred, two hundred, three hundred, whatever. Then one day it’s like a thousand. Then the next day it’s like two thousand. And I’m like, ‘Man, what is going on here?’”
Read the rest of the article: https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/atf-suppressor-wait-times/
SCOTUS Overturns Bump Stock Ban
Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill, a case challenging the federal government’s unlawful ban on ‘bump-stock’ devices. The decision can be viewed here. Both organizations filed important merits-stage briefs in the case; FPC’s brief is available here, and FPCAF’s brief is available here.
Notably, the Court held in the decision that “[s]emiautomatic firearms, which require shooters to reengage the trigger for every shot, are not machineguns.” And even Justice Sotomayor’s dissent concedes that AR-15s and the like are “commonly available, semiautomatic rifles.” This is directly relevant to FPC’s massive strategic litigation campaign to eliminate bans on so-called “assault weapons.” More information about these cases can be found at FPCLegal.org.
“This decision helps rein in an out-of-control federal government that has no respect for the People of the United States or our rights,” said FPC President and FPCAF Chairman Brandon Combs. “The President cannot change the law to fit his policy preferences and the ATF cannot be turned into his personal gestapo. We fought President Trump’s lawless and unconstitutional actions from day one. And the Supreme Court’s decision today proves we were right all along.”
Pistol Brace Ban Vacated
Today, Firearms Policy Coalition announced a major legal victory in its Mock v. Garland lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s “pistol brace” ban rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In the decision, United States District Court Judge Reed O’Connor granted summary judgment in favor of FPC and its co-plaintiffs and issued a final judgment and order vacating the ATF’s rule. The case and opinion can be found at FPCLegal.org.
“The Biden Administration’s ATF hates us so much that it lawlessly acted to turn millions of gun owners into felons, but FPC and our members ran towards the fire and defeated this evil,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “Today’s order shows that our community can take on an immoral government and win. FPC members should be proud of what was accomplished today. We look forward to defending this victory on appeal and up to the Supreme Court, just as we have in other cases.”
Read the rest of the article: https://www.firearmspolicy.org/biden-atf-pistol-brace-ban-vacated
Operation Texas Kill Switch
Federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are taking aim at devices that can turn legal firearms into illegal machine guns.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robert Topper for the ATF Houston Field Division announced a joint initiative, “Operation Texas Kill Switch,” at a Monday morning press conference. The operation’s target is machine gun conversion devices, commonly known as “switches,” and the people who possess, manufacture, or sell them.
The U.S. Attorneys for the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Districts are also involved in the initiative.
The ATF has been warning of the increased prevalence of the devices, which can be made of metal or plastic and even printed with 3D printers.
Read the rest of the article: https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/06/10/us-attorneys-office-atf-announce-joint-initiative-focused-on-machine-gun-conversion-devices-in-texas/
IWI Carmel Reviewed
Kenzie Fitzpatrick over at Wideners had the opportunity to perform an in-depth review of the IWI Carmel. Recommend you head over to https://www.wideners.com/blog/iwi-carmel-review/ and give it a read. This looks like a really cool rifle!
DHS Reviewing 3D Printer Purchases
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made a shocking admission while speaking about a Staten Island man who was arrested for making homemade firearms. The DHS, with the help of Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and others, is monitoring Americans buying 3D printers and 3D printing materials that could be used for making firearms.
The Homeland Security Investigations New York’s El Dorado Task Force (EDTF), which consists of various units for DHS, including the Homeland Security Investigations Financial Crimes Task Force, helped the New York Police Department (NYPD) raid the home of John Raia. The 57-year-old man was accused of manufacturing firearms without serial numbers and having several standard compacity magazines, which are against New York State law to own. New York law enforcement authorities arrested the man. After this raid, the task force showed off the guns and ammo it had seized during the raid.
Read the rest of the article: https://www.ammoland.com/2024/05/dhs-admits-to-monitoring-3d-printer-purchases-with-the-help-of-amazon-ebay-and-paypal/
Paxton Sues ATF
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading a coalition of Republican states in suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) over a new rule that will require licenses and background checks for private firearms sales.
The ATF is expanding the definition of what is considered a firearm “dealer,” subjecting private sellers to the same licensing and safety requirements as commercial stores.
President Biden said the change “is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons.”
At a press conference in Frisco to announce the lawsuit, Paxton said the rule change exceeds the authority of a federal agency and violates the Second Amendment.
“We will not let Biden continue his tyrannical abuse of power,” Paxton said. “If the Constitution means anything, if federal law means anything, we’re going to win this battle.”
Read the rest of the article: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/paxton-sues-atf-over-new-gun-sales-requirements
2A Doesn’t Exist In This Courtroom
From the beginning of Taylor’s trial, it was evident that the court would be biased against the defendant, according to Varghese, who explained that two judges presided over his case before the current official, Judge Abena Darkeh, took over.
The judge disrupted Varghese’s opening statement multiple times as he tried to set the stage for Taylor’s defense. Even further, she admonished the defense to refrain from mentioning the Second Amendment during the trial. Varghese told RedState:
She told us, ‘Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.’
Read the rest of the article: https://redstate.com/jeffc/2024/04/22/brooklyn-man-convicted-over-gun-hobby-by-biased-ny-court-could-be-facing-harsh-sentence-n2173162
Suddenly Firearms From 1854 Are Scary
Update: Everytown added this and other lever-action rifles to its list of "Deadly Innovations from the 2024 SHOT Show": https://t.co/9I2qXc48LE https://t.co/jsEDvXiKnC pic.twitter.com/0dRtYSaHMP
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) February 1, 2024
ATF Preparing To Regulate Private Sales
We know they can’t… they know they can’t… but will they try?
The whistleblower group that represented the IRS agents in the Hunter Biden case is warning that the Biden administration is preparing an “unconstitutional“ power grab to regulate private gun sales by requiring a background check.
In a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Empower Oversight said it had learned from two sources that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was directed by the White House to make the change and “has drafted a 1,300-page document in support of a rule that would effectively ban private sales of firearms from one citizen to another by requiring background checks for every sale.”
Empower Oversight said it believes that only Congress can make such a change because a 1986 law it passed explicitly forbade background checks for gun sales between private individuals.
Read the rest of the article: https://justthenews.com/government/white-house/atf-preparing-regulate-private-gun-sales-background-check-whistleblower
BREAKING!!! Supreme Court 6-3 Decision Used To Strike Down Suppressor & NFA Tax Restriction Claims!
Armed Scholar breaks down the current efforts to remove NFA and ATF restrictions on suppressors.
KS Senator Accuses ATF Of License Revocation Due To Clerical Errors
Kansas senator Roger Marshall claims that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives auditors are unduly revoking the licenses of firearms dealers in his state over minor paperwork errors, according to a new letter exclusively obtained by National Review.
The Biden administration’s ATF is refusing to help Kansas gun dealers, especially in rural areas, fix clerical errors and is stripping them of their Federal Firearms Licenses during the auditing process, Marshall, a Republican, said in a Wednesday letter to Steven Dettelbach, the federal agency’s director.
In the past, the ATF has helped firearms sellers fix clerical errors on transaction-related paperwork to ensure they comply with federal law, he wrote.
In the letter, Marshall asked Dettelbach why the federal agency is abusing its auditing power.
Read the rest of the article: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/kansas-senator-accuses-atf-of-revoking-gun-dealer-licenses-over-clerical-errors/
Judge Rules USPS Gun Ban Unconstitutional
A federal judge in Florida on Friday ruled that a U.S. law that bars people from possessing firearms in post offices is unconstitutional, citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2022 that expanded gun rights.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump in Tampa, reached that conclusion in dismissing part of an indictment charging a postal worker with illegally possessing a gun in a federal facility.
Mizelle said that charge violated Emmanuel Ayala’s right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, saying “a blanket restriction on firearms possession in post offices is incongruent with the American tradition of firearms regulation.”
Read the rest of the article: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-01-13/ban-on-guns-in-post-offices-is-unconstitutional-us-judge-rules