Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- The industry and the public have been anxiously awaiting the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) rule on unfinished frames and receivers. We now have an idea where the ATF might be in the process, thanks to emails from the ATF’s Office of Regulatory Affairs obtained by Gun Owners of America (GOA).
The wait probably will not be days or weeks, and it might even be months.
The new rules seem to have hit a snag because no one at the Bureau considered the number of unfinished frames and receivers sitting in stores’ inventory. Now the ATF will be reaching out to licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) to see how many kits are currently for sale. The ATF is asking the dealers how long it would take to serialize those kits and what the FFL’s plan to do with the kits if a rule went into effect that would require serialization.
From the letters;
Do you sell partially complete firearm kits? If yes,
a. Approximately how many kits do you currently possess in inventory?
b. If the proposed rule on the “Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms” were to finalize, what would you do with these kits?
c. How long do you estimate it would take to serialize a partially complete firearms kit in your current inventory?
It seems like the ATF is trying to get a timeline as to when the earliest the new rule can go into effect without too much negative impact on dealers. FFLs could be on the hook for the cost of the kits if they could not serialize the unfinished frames and receivers if the new rule takes effect. The ATF is seemly trying to avoid a situation where the dealers would lose too much money. The ATF is probably not concerned for the dealers’ losses, more likely the ATF probably wants to prevent criticism and scrutiny from Congress.
Cart Before the Horse
The ATF will also be reaching out to gunsmiths to get an idea of how many privately made firearms (PMF) they take into inventory to work on for customers every year. The government agency wants to know if gunsmiths have the ability to engrave PMFs that they are hired to fix. The ATF also wants to know what the gunsmiths plan on doing if the new rule goes into effect when a customer brings in a PMF to be worked on at their shop.
From the letters;
Do you offer gunsmithing services? If yes,
a. Approximately how many privately made firearms (PMFs) do you work on, repair, or otherwise take in to work on in a given year?
b. Are you capable of engraving or marking a firearm with a serial number?
c. If not, and PMFs are required to be marked or engraved with a serial number, what would you do with future PMFs that individuals may bring in?
Dealers, gunsmiths, and other industry members will start receiving the request for information from the ATF’s Office of Regulatory Affairs anytime now. The industry members will have approximately a week to respond to the questions. It isn’t clear how many gunsmiths and dealers will receive the questions.