ATF shoots itself in the foot

The ATF is arguing that suppressors can be fully regulated because they aren't "bearable arms" and aren't protected by the 2nd Amendment, which means, the ATF admits that bearable arms are protected by the 2nd Amendment and therefore cannot be regulated by the government.

https://thetexan.news/texas-attorney-general-sues-atf-to-validate-new-suppressor-law/

 

~ I did not know that suppressors were available to the general public. Seems they could be useful for noise reduction when target shooting.

 

Oh yes. The ATF requires a Class III license to own a silencer (same license required to own a fully auto rifle). If you want to buy a silencer, you contact a dealer, select the product and fill out some paperwork. For a Class III license you have to submit fingerprints and a passport-style photo. The background check traditionally takes almost a year (the background check is much more extensive than that required for a semi-auto rifle or handgun), but that has been tremendously shortened recently. It can be completed in weeks not months. This has to do with a totally unrelated law requiring the paperwork to be done digitally instead of manually. Once you have gotten the license, you must pay a $200 "tax stamp" for each item purchased. Typically, silencers are relatively expensive for most gun owners, but there are exceptions. A typical silencer for an AR 15 or something chambered in the larger 308 round usually runs about $1,000. A 22LR silencer are typically $500 or less. In most cases an additional cost will be incurred to enable the barrel to accept the screw-in silencer. A 5.7x28 pistol I found recently comes ready-made for a silencer which is in the $500 range.

Silencers make range time much easier on the ears. That's important to me since I am a disabled vet due to hearing loss.

Part of the Texas law that makes the state a "2d Amendment Sanctuary" stipulates that silencers manufactured wholly within the state of Texas are not subject to federal firearms laws. This is new and yet to be fully tested. Most Texas gun shops are fearful of selling silencers without Federal compliance for fear of losing their FFL (Federal Firearms License) which would interfere with shipping and receiving firearms.

 

The general public has almost 2.7M of them.

 

Make that 2,700,001 after my Kel Tec P50 gets here.

 

~ A video on pistol suppressors



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suppressors were added to the unconstitutional 1934 NFA for one reason. It wasn't crime control interns of gangsters perpetrating "St Valentines Day Massacres. Rather, during the height of the depression, game wardens were claiming people were poaching deer-and in some cases-livestock with suppressed firearms. And since that was a state crime, juries tended not to convict someone for shooting a deer-or perhaps even a cow from a big herd-to feed his family. So there was a push to essentially ban suppressors with a prohibitive tax and since the case would go before an FDR appointed federal judge, "nullification" far less likely. It had nothing to do with preventing violence

 

There was zero discussion of suppressors or short barreled rifles in Congress prior to passing NFA 1934.

 

There was zero discussion prior to the FAOPA being amended with the Hughes Amendment either. All that scum bag Hughes said is "who can support machine guns". that was it

 

The background check is a simply NICS check. The delay is a "supply" of reviewers vs "demand" of tax stamp applicants. The recent ATF ruling on braces gave some insight into the actual time to review an application:


https://www.ammoland.com/2022/09/atf-pistol-brace-amnesty-registration-program/#axzz7fLn2SGu0

The ATF must have your money before they even start to review your Form 1 or Form 4. I have had Form 1s for SBRs come back in 21 days.

Yankee Hill Machine makes some nice suppressors for both 5.56mm and .308 under $500.

 

This is why they are legal - and often required - in Europe.

 

it will be interesting to see what ATF does on those "pistols". I know a few federal judges who are most likely to give the ATF a colonoscopy over this-given ATF originally ruled those did not create an SBR and hundreds of thousands of people bought them based on that

 

If Congress funds them it will be either use the amnesty for a no cost Form 1 or be a criminal.

 

I was told some "pistols" will need to be registered-others not/ Sounds like a lot of waste of effort and court time. I suspect there will be all sorts of litigation.

 

The background check to purchase a gun is a NICS check. The background check associated with a CLASS III license is much more extensive.

 

I have eight tax stamps. How many do you have?

I posted a link that showed that the ATF expects the inspection for Form 1 paperwork to take 15 minutes.

What extra background work happened with my last two Form 1s that took 21 days by eFile?

 

I guess that means if my suppressor is not removeable from my bearable arm, then the regulation would violate the constitution...

Of course thats not how they'll see it tho.

Suppressor deregulation is gonna have to (and should!) happen at the state level.

 

A suppressor isn't alcohol, tobacco, nor a firearm. Therefore, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms can't regulate them.

 

Yet according to the ATF, they are classified as firearms.

From the Definitions section of the ATF Form 1:

" Firearm. The term “firearm” means: (1) a shotgun having a barrel orbarrels of less than 18 inches in length; (2) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (4) a weapon
made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (5)
any other weapon, as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(e);(6) a machinegun;
(7) a muffler or a silencer for any firearm whether or not such firearm is included within this definition; and ( a destructive device,as defined in 26
U.S.C. § 5845 (f)."

 

The ATF wants to have it's cake and eat it to.

 

~ Another nice pistola

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Thats a lot of time and money. Criminals just use an oil filter.

 

Do you interesting thing about it is the ATF doesn't really have any jurisdiction over anything except for interstate commerce. Further the Heller decision pretty much nullifies everything about the ATF with regard to firearms maybe they should just be the AT.

In Texas it's recently been made legal to have a suppressor just as long as it was made in Texas and it's not being shipped out of Texas the ATF can't touch it they have no jurisdiction. It's time to start pulling their teeth.

 

That's the Crux of all gun laws they don't control criminals. They aren't designed to.

 

I fell in love with the Rossi circuit judge. It's quite a good carbine I was impressed with that. 45lc ammo. And it's a perfectly functional skeet gun