Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released new proposed guidelines on unfinished firearms receivers and frames.
As AmmoLand News reported back in November, the Biden transition team met with Acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo to get the ATF’s top priorities. The top brass at the ATF cited unfinished firearm receivers and pistol braces as their top two priorities. President Biden then promised swift action on firearms. Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, is openly hostile towards the Second Amendment. She believes that the right to bear arms only applies to a state-run militia.
He gave the ATF 30-days to come up with new rules and regulations regarding what he refers to as “ghost guns.” Anti-gun groups and 22 states plus the District of Columbia have been pushing for changes to the laws. These groups and politicians think that these non-firearms should be treated as fully functional guns.
Under the new rule, the ATF would consider any externally visible housing or holding structure to be a frame or receiver. The builder would also have to get the frame serialized once it reaches near completion. The ATF now has wide latitude to decide what is and isn’t a frame or receiver.
The proposed new rule reads:
“More than one externally visible part may house or hold a fire control component on a particular firearm, such as with a split or modular frame or receiver. Under these circumstances, ATF may determine whether a specific part or parts of the weapon is the frame or receiver, which may include an internal frame or chassis at least partially exposed to the exterior to allow identification.”
The new rules also go after “buy build shoot” kits. The ATF will consider these kits to be firearms.
The ATF Polymer80 raided over their kits. The law enforcement agency considers these to be “readily convertible” since all parts are included in the kits. The ATF is now changing the rules to justify their previous raids.
Manufacturers must mark all unfinished frames and receivers with “their name (or recognized abbreviation), and city and state (or recognized abbreviation) where they maintain their place of business; or their name (or recognized abbreviation) and their abbreviated FFL number, on each part defined as a frame or receiver, along with the serial number.” FFLs holding “privately made firearms” (PMF) must serialize their firearms within 60 days of the ruling. The owner could also destroy the gun or turn it into the government. Silencers are also targeted in the ruling.
The ATF created a new definition of a suppressor to be a “housing or holding structure for one or more essential internal components of the device, including, but not limited to, baffles, baffling material, or expansion chamber.”
Gun owners have had success beating back similar rule changes in the past. Last December, the ATF proposed rule changes surrounding pistol braces. The public outpouring of dissent was so intense it forced the ATF to withdrawal the rule change. This battle will take much more of an effort by gun owners to win.
If Congress confirms David Chipman as the new ATF Director, the task of backing down the ATF will become almost impossible. Chipman is an anti-gun advocate and former ATF agent. He works for Giffords which is a rabid anti-gun group. He has also worked for Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown For Gun Safety and believes that magazines should be regulated like machine guns.
The ATF will review the comments on the new rules for 60 days before announcing the final version of the new regulations. It will then take 30 to 60 days before the rules go into effect. Groups like Gun Owners of America have vowed to fight back against these new rules and said they would spare no expense to defeat them.
“GOA will spare no expense to defeat Biden’s tyrannical agenda and will rally gun owners and Second Amendment supporters nationwide to defend the right to keep and bear arms,” GOA’s Senior Vice President, Erich Pratt, told AmmoLand News.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
https://www.ammoland.com/2021/05/atf-released-proposed-rules-for-unfinished-receivers-and-frames/