Tag Archives: ATF

Uninformed “Whistleblowers”

I spotted an odd headline today.

Biden Administration Preparing to Ban Private Gun Sales: Whistleblowers
President Joe Biden’s administration has drafted a document that would effectively ban private gun sales by requiring background checks for all transactions, even those made between private citizens, according to a whistleblower group.

That would be Empower Oversight, more of a whistleblower support organization. But why we need “whistleblowers” to tell us that the ATF is sneaking around to change the rules is odd…

Since they published the Notice of Proposed Rule-Making last year. You commented on it, right? Maybe your comments even got posted. Maybe.

What Empower Oversight did was send a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland about those devious miscreants at the ATF.

The draft rule received immense comment and was interpreted by many to require that any private citizen who sells even a single firearm online might be required to register as an FFL…

Yep. I certainly did. Because it would.

This proposed rule, essentially requiring any person, selling a single firearm to pay bills, to first obtain a Federal Firearms License (FFL), is blatantly unconstitutional. It also would not work as advertised, and would even be counter-productive.

But back to EO’s letter.

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…despite clear language in law since 1986 that the term “engaged in the business” of selling firearms “shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms,”

They are referring to the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986. And yes, that language was there. But they missed the bit in the so-called Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 that The Zelman Partisans warned you about.

When we heard that these senate scum would “clarify” what it means to be in the “business” of selling firearms — requiring an FFL — I hoped, but didn’t actually expect, that they might finally set a threshold for number of sales in a defined time period. That isn’t what we’ve gotten.

Instead, they changed the definition from “with the principal objective of livelihood and profit” to “predominantly earn a profit”.

No longer would you need to be selling enough guns to make a living. Just a single sale, if your intent is to make money, suffices to require a Federal Firearms License. There is no exception for sales to friends or family. There is no exception for sales to pay off medical bills.

They legislatively changed the old 1986 definition. The ATF’s rule is “merely” implementing the law.

Perhaps Empower Oversight should assign someone to watch TZP for updates like that.

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Hey! My “Engaged In The Business” NPRM Comment Finally Appeared.

It only took four tries, and a week, but they finally accepted one from me.

Regulations.gov claims…

Posted by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau on Sep 15, 2023

…but I happened to check on the 15th, and it was not found.

Between my personal commenting and TZP’s, we only have a 42.9% success rate in getting the ATF to accept comments.

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ATF NPRM Commenting FUBAR As Usual

As I noted on September 8, the ATF is screwing up commenting on the “engaged in the business” Notice of Proposed Rule-Making.

In short, as dockets changed and vanished in a period of minutes, I found it desirable to comment six times; three times on behalf of TZP, and three times for myself personally.

Regulations.gov is now posting comments, so I checked the status of our comments. It ain’t pretty. I’m documenting the results so I have a public record of what is happening.

TZP Comment Tracking Numbers (in order submitted)

One lost, submitted after first that’s there, and before the other that’s there.

Personal Comment Tracking Numbers (in order submitted)

  • lma-m7xn-uqi0 (not found)
  • lma-nseu-zlmo (not found)
  • lma-p5qv-j9z4 (not found)

NONE of my personal comments can be found. Note that all were submitted after the first TZP comment appearing, and two before the third TZP comment that appears. My third comment was posted last. I see other people’s comment appearing that were submitted
days after mine. I have email confirmation that my comments were received (for two; I forgot to enter my email address for one).

I have now submitted a fourth attempt at commenting; Comment Tracking Number: lmg-ih6a-k2ww. I’m still waiting for the email confirmation.

Please let us know in comments below if you are also having difficulty commenting on the NPRM.

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[UPDATE 2] “Engaged In The Business”

UPDATE: As always, it appears that the ATF screwed up the NPRM. The links I posted earlier now go to a error page.

We’re sorry, an error has occurred
A general error occurred while processing your request.

Now the correct URL is https://www.regulations.gov/document/ATF-2023-0002-0001. For now.

This change, as in the past, probably trashed all comments that had been submitted. So I’ll comment again. And very likely — based on the ATF’s history of NPRM errors — a third time. We’ll see.

Update 2: The new second docket, AT-2023-0002-0001, briefly went dead, but now appears again. It’s unknown if the comments we submitted were retained. We’ll submit comments again just in case. But…

A THIRD docket, ATF-2023-0002, is ALSO live.

Live, but empty at this time. If you look at the “Browse Documents” tab, it does link back to the intermitteently visible ATF-2023-0002-0001.

So as of 9/8/2023, 10:20 AM EDT, we’ve had

  • ATF_FRDOC_0001-0051 (dead)
  • ATF-2023-0002-0001 (sometimes there, sometimes not)
  • ATF-2023-0002 (empty, but links to ATF-2023-0002-0001; it may be a “home folder” for 2023 NPRMs)

This looks very much like someone is deliberately interfering with commenting.


Original post follows.


Of screwing Americans. The ATF is that. As usual.

More than a year ago, The Zelman Partisans warned that the so-called Bipartisan Safer Communities Act changed the definition of “engaged in the business” of selling firearms. And not in a good way.

No longer would you need to be selling enough guns to make a living. Just a single sale, if your intent is to make money, suffices to require a Federal Firearms License. There is no exception for sales to friends or family. There is no exception for sales to pay off medical bills.

The ATF has published their Notice Of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) instituting this change. There is a 90 day commenting period. I encourage you to comment and point out the idiocy of the ATF and Congress. TZP has done so. Feel free to use this as a basis for your own comments.


This proposed rule, essentially requiring any person, selling a single firearm to pay bills, to first obtain a Federal Firearms License (FFL), is blatantly unconstitutional. It also would not work as advertised, and would even be counter-productive.

Allow me to explain.

The proposed rule is in absolute, direct conflict with Supreme Court rulings in HELLER, MCDONALD, and especially BRUEN.

There is no general, historical tradition that has required private citizens making private, occasion sales — as opposed to deriving a significant, ongoing income from regular sales — to first obtain an FFL. That is not “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Never before has such a thing been required.

In fact, even the FFL itself fails BRUEN’s general, historical tradition test as no federal license for those actually engaged in the business was required until passage of the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 (FFA). America got along just fine without any such law for its first 162 years.

And while this unconstitutional action was directed by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, it would do nothing to make safer communities. Those dealing in black market and stolen firearms will simply ignore this rule; just as they have ignored the FFA for 85 years, and the Gun Control Act of 1968 for 55 years.

The only people who will be affected by this proposed rule are the honest folk, who would have to decide between following the criminals’ highly successful 85 year old example, or being compliant chumps.

Should a significant number of America’s 100+ million gun owners decide they need an FFL, just in case they might be in a car accident and need to sell their collections to cover medical expenses, the ATF will be swamped with Form 7 applications. The waiting time will rise from the current two month estimate to — potentially — years, leaving said bills unpaid and the victims of unchecked bureaucracy bankrupt. I strongly suspect the Supreme Court would find that such delays themselves are an unconstitutional infringement of the Second Amendment.

Allegedly, this proposed rule would have the effect of instituting universal background checks. I think someone failed to consider the effect of 18 U.S. Code § 922(t)(1). With a significant percentage of the gun-owning population being new FFL holders, they could happily transfer all the firearms they wish amongst themselves anyway; be it a previously-private sale, or a conventional purchase in a gun store.

The number of gun purchase background checks would DECREASE.


My personal comment added this line.

Please extract your craniums from your rectal orifice before it’s too late.

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Win For Pistol Braces: A Battle, Not The War

The Fifth Circuit just ruled against the feds in the Firearm Policy Coalition case on the new ATF rule on pistol braces as short-barrel rifles.

Federal Appeals Court Finds ATF Pistol Brace Rule Is Likely Unlawful: ‘Impossible For A Regular Citizen’
Smith wrote that the rule makes it “nigh impossible for a regular citizen to determine what constitutes a braced pistol” and whether “a specified brace pistol requires NFA registration.”

No kidding. The Zelman Partisans noted that more than two years ago, when the Notice of Proposed Rule-Making was published.

This proposed rule is a coherently expressed description of an arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent process of classifying firearms.

As no standards were given, a subjective examiner’s guesstimate of “rear surface area” could pass a brace, or put it right on the edge of alleged short-barreled rifle by itself. Will one examiner estimate the “rear surface area” of a cuff-type brace by the physical area of the rear EDGE of the cuff, while another goes by the area of the space ENCLOSED by the cuff?

After the commenting period was over, the actual rule even worse than what was proposed. They tossed their proposed “checklist,” and switched to a list of arbitrary characteristics that went undefined; it was left up to each individual evaluator.

If you scroll down to page 268, you’ll find the actual final rule, and see that they opted for a evaluation system even more “arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent” than the 4999.
[…]
How much surface area does it take to create a rifle? The rule doesn’t say, leaving it up to “”arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent” FTB evaluators. Just think: the more firearms they can declare short-barrel rifles, the more tax money they can collect. No perverse incentive there, eh?

In short, braced pistol owners were left with two options to determine if their pistols had magically morphed into rifles: Send it to the ATF for individual determination, or wait to be arrested for possession of an unregistered short-barrel rifle.

This isn’t a final win. The Fifth Circuit panel only said that the rule is likely to be found to be unlawful. Based on that likelihood, they sent it back to the district court to reconsider an injunction against enforcement of the capricious rule.

I suspect this is going to bounce back and forth a while longer.

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Too Big for their Britches

A friend of mine in far away Nicaragua sent an article recently that reminded me very much of one I wrote years ago. I attempted to find the disc I have the original on to pick some sections out if it to quote. But well, once I hit some old photos and started copying and pasting and had gone through about a half dozen or more discs I decided to knock it off and just go off recall. Some of the worst I can remember. Besides which, it fits into a larger pattern I’m seeing and I don’t like it, and I don’t like where it’s headed.

So, what’s put the burr under my saddle blanket this time and has me highly annoyed?

UN-elected bureaucrats. They are often confused with bottom dwelling pond slime, so be able to tell the difference, it’s very slight sometimes.

Apparently in Virginia some bottom feeder from Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources decided they could go wherever they chose, in camo, and steal a man’s game camera and terrify his family while they played basketball by lurking in the family’s woods and behaving like a voyeur, a state funded stalker if you will. When the terrified wife ran for her husband the state funded thief took off. With their game camera. There’s more of course. Virginia wildlife officials trespassed on man’s land, stole his trail camera, lawsuit alleges

Now it doesn’t take much to set me off on the Department of Conservation, I despise them. They can and do come onto your land without a warrant, poke around wherever they choose, if you have locked gates it doesn’t matter. If you have livestock and they let it out, they are not liable. If your livestock gets out in the road and causes and accident, they aren’t liable, you are. If it was livestock you were fond of? Tough. Like I said, bottom dwelling pond scum. In the article I wrote years ago it talked about some pretty egregious things. There was a movement in my state a few years ago to rein them in. They’ve been known to seize mounted deer heads worth a lot of money and claim the owner wasn’t entitled to them. No warrant. Game meat taken out of freezers, there was a large group that had met several times to discuss what was going on with the Department of Conservation. People contacted their elected representatives, promises were made and, nothing, zip, nada. Their behavior really is criminal. For example;

Once I asked Ziehmer if he approved of the situation down in Douglas County where a dying man had willed 200 acres of land to the Department of Conservation. Just after the man died the department sent in their surveyor and attempted to rearrange the boundary so that it would take about 25 or 30 acres from three neighboring landowners without ever notifying them.

This involved cutting trees from neighbors’ land, setting a new boundary and posting signs telling the real owners of the land to stay off the land they had owned for decades. The landowners had to pay lawyers quite a lot of money and go through a long legal battle just to get back that land. In that interview I asked Ziehmer why they had done such a thing. Draper looked at him as if to say ‘‘keep quiet’’ and then he answered with something that sounded as if he had written it down and memorized it.

The people of It Could Be Any State USA expect us to accumulate and expand land for them to hunt or hike or otherwise enjoy,” he said.

My next question was, “Do you think the people of Missouri collectively would approve of what you did there next to land a dying man gave you, a man who had long known and respected his neighbors. If all It Could Be Any State USA citizens knew all about it, would the majority be happy with what you have done?”

My latest interaction was they showed up on my land for no good reason. One of my neighbors tipped me off they saw him snooping around. I’m a vegetarian. I don’t hunt and I don’t allow it. So. I called up the local game warden and politely introduced myself “Yes this is Sheila at 1313 WhatTheHeckAreYouDoingOnMyProperty Lane. I’ve been informed you were on my property, uninvited. Why?” I managed to keep the growl out of my voice, and I’m very proud of that. Well, turns out he was looking for baiting. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t allow hunting. Why didn’t you check with me? Now I’m well aware they don’t have to. These unelected bottom feeders can go anywhere, even the country sheriff can’t really do that without a reason, I don’t believe. Well, he finally admitted he was on the wrong property….ass. Bet he votes Demoncrat.

But with the way things are going I can well see a department that already abuses their authority to do unscrupulous activity for an unscrupulous law enforcement agency. Need a little look-see and don’t have a warrant and can’t get one? Call your local game warden. Bottom feeders. Ok, ok, I’ll admit, I’m biased, but I don’t like bullies and I don’t like liars. YMMV, but you might want to look into what your Department of Conservation can get away with.

But this next too big for their britches, or their job description I think we can agree on.

It Begins: 20 Heavily Armed IRS and ATF Agents Raid Great Falls Gun Store, Seize Firearm Purchase Records

In MONTANA! For pete’s sake in MONTANA!!

We have now confirmed that both the IRS and the ATF were at Highwood Creek Outfitters in Great Falls around 7 am this morning. Both the IRS and ATF would not say why they were there,” KMON Radio reported.

A spokeswoman for the IRS would only say they were there on official IRS business. The ATF says it was providing assistance to the IRS. We attempted to enter the store today and were stopped by agents at the door who would only say that the gun store is closed and will reopen tomorrow,” the news outlet added.

….

Although the Montana Department of Justice claimed no involvement in the incident, an IRS spokesperson confirmed their presence at Highwood Creek Outfitters but refrained from providing further details.

….

The recent incident has attracted political attention, with Congressman Matt Rosendale expressing his concern over the IRS and ATF’s actions, interpreting them as another example of the Biden regime’s weaponization of federal agencies against hardworking Americans.

I’m incredibly disturbed by initial reports that the IRS and ATF closed Highwood Creek Outfitters without any warning today,” said Rep Rosendale in a statement.

Well, no flies on Rep. Rosendale…what did people think the IRS would do when they got all that shiny new firepower and ammo except use it on law-abiding citizens. Dealing with criminals is dangerous! These days there is no government bureau that is not abusing it’s power and will not abuse it.

You know, we’ve sent an awful lot of taxpayer money to be laundered in Ukraine and sent back shiny and clean to the Bidden crime regime. We’ve got to cut corners somewhere. Defund the ATF, FIB, CIA and IRS. It won’t begin to cover the debt, but it’s at least making a start.

They’re too big for their britches.

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Pistol Brace Rule

It’s probably worth noting that the ATF’s pistol brace rule was formally published in the Federal Register today, making it official.

The countdown has started. If you have a braced pistol, you have 120 days to decide how to proceed.

You may have heard that those attempting to register braced firearms as short-barrel rifles, may have an issue. Some claimed that if the form isn’t processed in 88 days, then it’s automatically denied. A more cogent explanation clarifies that.

When you apply for your tax stamp, the ATF goes to the FBI’s NICS for a background check. Unlike a firearm sale, which can proceed if the NICS check doesn’t come back in three days, at 88 days without a NICS response, the application is denied. It’s then up to you to go to the FBI and ask “What the heck’s going on with my background check?” and resubmit your stamp application.

Meanwhile, the Firearms Policy Coalition has already filed its lawsuit challenging the rule. I’m not sure if they were the first, because it looks like it was a dead heat with the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty’s lawsuit.

Good luck, folks.

 

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, site hosting and SSL certificate, new 2021 model hip, and general life expenses.
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Options To A National Divorce

As I’ve mentioned before, in some ways I see a national divorce as potentially the only way to salvage part of America as we know and love her. Barring of course appealing to Gov Ron DeSantis to come in and begin administration of the states that want that, as opposed to those who are upset by M&Ms with shoes.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S1fh5punju0

But if Gov. DeSantis responds to the requests of other red states with inadequate governors to go in and help restore American values such as one set of rule and laws for everyone as well as equal enforcement, limited small government, actual classroom lessons in STEM and real American history, just be aware Ukraine will be sending money and possibly troops to prevent the “invasion”. Just as our government has done to the people in the Donbas region. Russia will laugh her tail off.

So, short of asking Gov. DeSantis for help, let’s look at a couple of interesting thing. First up, she’s a 10…th…Amendment.

The Tenth Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The anti-commandeering clause says that the federal government can not compel local governments to enforce their tyranny. Some ATF examples from 2007 Office of Inspector Generals report involving egregious acts from just Richmond, Virginia, from May 2004 through August 2005.

The first hearing presented testimony from four witnesses who alleged that ATF agents used aggressive and harassing techniques primarily at a gun show held on August 13 and 14, 2005, at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. Three of the witnesses were present at the gun show: the gun show promoter, a gun salesman who worked for a federally licensed dealer but represented him self as a private seller at the show, and a federally licensed dealer who had exhibited his firearms collection for sale at the Richmond gun show. The fourth witness was a private investigator who was hired by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to conduct an investigation o f ATF enforcement activity at the August 2005 gun show. The witnesses alleged that ATF Special Agents and state and local police interrogated and intimidated gun buyers, targeted women and minorities as potential straw purchasers, visited the homes of buyers to verify their addresses, and detained some gun buyers after they left the gun show and seized their weapons without cause.

Showed.Up.At.Gun Buyers.Homes.

But they’re better now, right? From a forum post:

This is a scary but true PSA , the ATF requested a table in the entrance area of a gun show today in Ft. Wayne, 5 agents in full ATF regalia met patrons as they entered our show.

I did not interact with said ATF nor do I recall seeing there presence in the show, I was a vendor, back in a corner selling gunsmithing tools, but none the less the ATF was there, in force.

One guy I know well did interact with these agents, asking the agents to explain a certain law to him, the ATF declined because, they, the ATF could not understand the language nor the depth/ limit of the laws scope……isn’t that scary!!

To the best of my knowledge the ATF did not ask for ID no inspect any guns, but I am certain they were there as part of there “we hate you , you don’t deserve the protection of the constitution ” thug squad.

And then there is the “let’s take the jackboots on the road” show, and this is where the anti-commandeering part comes in as well.

Arkansas sheriffs push back on new ATF gun policy

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Multiple Arkansas sheriff’s offices are pushing back against a new gun policy from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, (ATF).

This new federal rule states that those who use a “brace stabilizer” attachment will have to register their weapons with the government.

Gun control groups support the new policy, but not everyone agrees.

Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long and the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office shared that their offices would not assist the federal government in enforcing this policy.

Sheriff: Residents should tell ATF agents conducting warrantless gun inspections to leave

A Washington state sheriff recently advised residents in his county that if agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) come to their homes without a search warrant asking to inspect their firearms, they can tell them to leave their property.

Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer said in a press statement on Friday that agents are “making surprise home visits of persons who have purchased two or more firearms at one time. To my knowledge, these ATF visits have not occurred in Washington State yet.”

So until the corrupt BATFE can be defunded, or rebuilt, this might help keep citizens a bit safer from them.

May I just point out, the left already does this and thinks it’s peachy keen. Sanctuary cities, do they deport illegals or work with ICE? The federal government still has laws against pot, and yet many states don’t enforce them, let along allow local law enforcement to do so. Basically no undocumented doobie will be deported.

Let’s extrapolate this. Let’s start with something that had should never have been started, Covid. What if each county or city had not been greedy to take the federal bucks that came with covid and had refused to follow the federal mandates? No lockdowns, no business killing policies that only helped the big Dim mega-donors like Bezos? No paper burqas, no healthcare workers still trapped in the CO2 retaining masks because they have a desire to help people. I know, irony abounds. The CDC guide lines from the lying Walensky may cause hypercapnia. Confusion is always a good thing to look for in your healthcare workers, right? And all for no good reason as even the lying Fauxci had to admit under oath to the mighty AG from Missouri (now Senator) Eric Schmitt, that there are no studies showing masks work. So that would mean no police raiding struggling restaurants, no police or security dragging un-masked mothers sitting alone on bleachers off in handcuffs, and Stephanie Warriner would still be alive. Canadian judge drops charges on hospital security guards in Stephanie Warriner asphyxiation death, new video shows them slamming her into wall

This poor tiny young woman had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. She couldn’t breath with the mask on. She made a grave error in judgment. She went to a Canadian hospital, where they murdered her. She was “wearing her mask too low” as she was trying to breath, and the idiot security guards who have as many brains between them as Ashli Babbit’s murderer Michael Byrd killed her. Great job guys, you would have a bright future with the Metro PD. May they die horrible deaths as they gasp for breath.

The guards initially claimed that they were assaulted by the frail woman suffering from COPD, but it was later found that the guards lied. “Mr. Hutley went as far as to claim that Ms. Warriner delivered several overhand and underhand punches to Ms. Rojas-Silva’s face and was kicking her feet,” says a court document by the Crown.

“Later on, Mr. Hutley began sobbing and admitted he had not been truthful in the report, saying ‘I’m sorry. I would have never said the things I said in there if I knew there was a video,'” the court document says.

Yes, I’m pissed.

But these are policies that are enforced because of the government guidelines. And granted the communist country of Canada has no Constitution or 10th Amendment under dear leader Turdo.

But imagine if every county in each state were responsible for evaluating federal guidelines and deciding to accept or reject them and no local law-enforcement was to be utilized in their enforcement. Local politicians are subject to re-election, unelected bureaucrats, not so much. They just go on to make lots of royalties with their wife in charge of ethics for their department. Sounds legit.

Things might look very different. Thousands of small businesses might still be around.

A friend of mine from Missouri sent me something interesting that could be helpful as well. It involves how a state’s constitution is amended and ballot initiatives. This example is from Missouri, but other states may do things differently.

Currently, it takes only a simple majority statewide vote of the people to ratify a proposed amendment and those votes can all come from a relatively small geographic area. Which means in their recent vote to allow legalized pot, it passed. And how did it pass in a red state like Missouri?

Who voted to legalize pot?

Because high crime, demoncrat controlled areas voted for it. Tyranny of the majority as he calls it. But the majority of counties do not want it.

One of the proposed solutions was needing a vote of 2/3 to pass a ballot initiative, but that meant that the populated areas could nix it sending it to the courts, then you have the courts ruling over things. This is what you see in Israel. The Knesset passes a law, the totally left-wing Supreme Court says no. And the people’s elected representatives are dead in the water. There is currently a battle in Israel over this, in the American media it’s called “Israel’s democracy is dead”. Right, because when the people’s elected representatives can’t pass laws the people want it’s a good thing according to the left. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366376 So no need to reinvent the wheel, we know this doesn’t work out well.

So that brings me to the second item, besides not press-ganging our local officials or law-enforcement into service of the federal leviathan. This idea comes from Missouri First. Um, so did the pot graphic, I shamelessly swiped it. It’s called the Concurrent Majority Ratification. A majority of voters, statewide will have to vote “yes” AND ALSO

A majority of voters in each of more than half the 163 state House districts would have to vote “yes.”

Pretty clever eh? He points out it is very consistent with other areas of government.

States vote to ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution – we don’t take a national popular vote.

The Electoral College – we don’t elect the president by a national popular vote.

Two U.S. Senators per state, no matter the size of the state.

Bicameral legislatures.

Members of the House of Representatives (both U.S. and state) represent geographic districts.

So, will we end up with a National divorce? I don’t know, but if states begin to utilize the 10th Amendment and especially the anti-commandeering clause more as well as looking at amending state constitutions to reflect traditional laws perhaps it could be avoided. Although I still suspect there will be areas that are going to break off. The demoncrats have so polarized and divided the country I’m not sure we share much of anything anymore.

But I’ll leave you with this snippet from the Tenth Amendment Center:

The federal government relies heavily on state cooperation to implement and enforce almost all of its laws, regulations and acts. By simply withdrawing this necessary cooperation, states and localities can nullify many federal actions in effect. As noted by the National Governors’ Association during the partial government shutdown of 2013, “states are partners with the federal government on most federal programs.”

Partnerships don’t work too well when half the team quits. By withdrawing all resources and participation in federal law enforcement efforts and program implementation, states, and even local governments, can effectively bring the federal actions to an end.

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Pistol Brace Final Rule: 293 Pages Of Arbitrary Capriciousness

The ATF’s final rule on whether pistol braces magically turn pistols into short-barreled rifles was signed on January 13, 2023.

Most of the document is rationalization of why they believe they can get away with this, and explaining away NPRM commenters’ objections. They did agree that the proposed form 4999 — which used an arbitrary point system to differentiate between pistols and short-barrel rifles — was flawed. They decided that was sufficiently flawed that they abandoned it.

The rule gives a slight nod to BRUEN:

Nothing in the Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), changes this analysis. See id at 2162 (Kavanaugh, J. concurring) (reiterating Heller’s finding that “dangerous and
unusual weapons” are outside of the Second Amendment’s protections).

That presupposes that braces inherently make a perfectly acceptable firearm into a “dangerous” device without actually changing the firearm’s function. It assumes that “1.4 million” braced pistols (the ATF’s own estimate of the number extant) are “unusual.” It also completely ignores the “general historical tradition” test laid out in the main decision.

If you scroll down to page 268, you’ll find the actual final rule, and see that they opted for a evaluation system even more “arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent” than the 4999.

The short form now is that a firearm with a pistol brace is a short-barrel rifled if it is:

“a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder”

How much surface area does it take to create a rifle? The rule doesn’t say, leaving it up to “”arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent” FTB evaluators. Just think: the more firearms they can declare short-barrel rifles, the more tax money they can collect. No perverse incentive there, eh?

And has arbitrary “other factors,” which are:

“a weight or length consistent with the weight or length of similarly designed rifles”

In a saner world, I could almost let that one slide.

“s a length of pull […] consistent with similarly designed rifles”

Length of pull, as The Zelman Partisans has noted, “presupposes that all braced pistols are SBRs until proven otherwise.” Guilty and taxable until proven innocent. It is the ATF after all.

“equipped with sights or a scope with eye relief that require the weapon to be fired from the shoulder in order to be used as designed”

That one is also almost reasonable, if it weren’t for the rest of the BS.

“Whether the surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder is created by a buffer tube, receiver extension, or any other accessory, component, or other rearward attachment that is necessary for the cycle of operation”

Since “surface area” is purely arbitrary and undefined, I don’t see how this clarifies anything. But just wait…

“manufacturer’s direct and indirect marketing and promotional materials”

Now company advertising flacks can inadvertently turn pistols into rifles, and it has nothing to do with the physical characteristics of the firearm or brace. It gets worse, though…

“the likely use of the weapon in the general community.”

If the brace has some undefined amount of surface area, the ATF can still declare anything a short-barrel rifle simply by deciding that it’s likely some idiot somewhere will use his firearm incorrectly.

We would have been better off with the 4999, which at least didn’t test advertising fliers and ATF agents’ purported precognitive powers.

The rule gives those currently in possession of braced firearms a few options.

Send it to the ATF for evaluation, so see if it can make ot past the magic test and remain a pistol.

Destroy the firearm.

Remove the brace and destroy that.

Replace the firearm barrel with a 16 inch (or more) barrel.

Turn the firearm in to law enforcement or the ATF.

Go to prison on an NFA violation even if you have a letter from the ATF saying your braced pistol isn’t a rifle.

Or you can apply to register it. If you do so through the E-Form system within 120 days of the rules Federal Register publication, the ATF will generously waive the usual tax stamp fee.

ATF delenda est.

 

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Welcome to Amerizuela

Welcome to the 3rd world banana republic known as Amerizuela. Or perhaps Ukranica? A place where political opponents are held in a gulag as POWs for over a year and are harassed by weaponized law-enforcement. They have reached new lows. As probably everyone has heard President Trump’s home Mar-A-Lago was raided by the corrupt FIB.

I like many other Americans, of both political parties by the way, view this as an outrage. How do I know both political parties? Because Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers posted on GAB that she was hearing from Demoncrats that are, while not equally appalled, are appalled none the less.

No one likes where this country is headed under the Biden crime junta. It is obvious that a vote for a Demoncrat brings a weaponized IRS. 87,000 new IRS agents, nothing for the border or military mind you, but to go after the middle class that elected Donald J. Trump? 87,000 new IRS agents. The total budget for the border patrol is less than just the increase in what the IRS is getting.

The weaponized IRS

Biden Puts IRS Funding Ahead of Military and Border Security

And when I say “weaponized IRS” I mean weaponized. This is from August 1st of this year.

IRS Stockpiles More Than 5 Million Rounds of Ammunition

Democrats’ Inflation Bill Will Add Agents to an Already Armed IRS – Only Democrats and China Win

So remember that meme that was popular awhile back?

They’re after YOU

Yep, guess they will be.

But first, they have to take out the Donald.

And so the corrupt Biden, Garland and Wray have descended into 3rd world banana republic tactics.

They raided Mar-A-Lago.

The excuse was some documents that had been packed up by the GSA. Why do I say excuse? Because the corrupt FIB was just there in June when the Trumps were there and were in the room where they are kept locked up for several hours with the President’s lawyers and went through them. President Trump even stopped by to say hello. But now that the Trumps are in NJ, they find it necessary to “raid” his home.

FBI searched Melania’s wardrobe, spent hours in Trump’s private office during Mar-a-Lago raid

This article is a wealth of information.

The Post has learned that the search warrant used by the FBI to enter the palatial Palm Beach property focused solely on presidential records and evidence of classified information being stored there.

….

The raid by over 30 plain clothes agents from the Southern District of Florida and the FBI’s Washington Field Office extended through the Trump family’s entire 3,000-square-foot private quarters, as well as to a separate office and safe, and a locked basement storage room in which 15 cardboard boxes of material from the White House were stored.

Interesting. The Washington field office. That’s where the lead agent that was in charge of the fake Whitmer kidnapping was promoted to. He’s now in charge of the Washington office. This came out in Sen. Ted Cruz’s grilling of the corrupt Chris Wray. Now I’ve heard theories that Merrick Garland has his panties in a knot because he blames the right for being denied his place on the Supreme Court. Maybe, I don’t know. But I do find it interesting that about 5 days after it comes out the corrupt agent in charge of the Detroit field office and the Whitmer kidnapping is now the corrupt agent in charge of the Washington office and suddenly we have a corrupt raid on President Trump, and Melania’s wardrobe I might add. They think presidential records are kept in her ball gowns? If I were Melania I’d have the whole place fumigated.

But back to our raid, the President’s lawyers were forced to stay outside, so who knows what that wiretapping bunch planted. And they were very arrogant as they went places they weren’t allowed to be per the warrant.

Another group of agents, including a professional safe cracker, moved to a separate part of the enormous 1924 Spanish stucco building to search Trump’s office and safe.

The demeanor of the three DOJ lawyers who accompanied the FBI was described by one eyewitness as “arrogant,” and they repeatedly told Trump representatives: “We have full access to everything. We can go everywhere.”

So where did the warrant come from? Who signed off on it? Oh, Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer!

US Judge in Florida Approved Search Warrant for FBI Raid on Trump’s Resort

(Bruce)Reinhart was a senior prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida during the prosecution of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Shortly after a non-prosecution agreement was reached with Epstein, who pleaded guilty to a single state-level charge in exchange for not being prosecuted by federal officials, Reinhart “joined Epstein’s payroll,” according to documents entered by lawyers for women Epstein allegedly abused.

Reinhart, a criminal defense attorney at the time, represented “numerous Epstein employees and pilots” in civil cases filed against Epstein by alleged victims, including Epstein’s housekeeper Louella Ruboyo and pilot Larry Morrison.

“On information and belief, Reinhart’s representation of these individuals was paid, directly or indirectly, by Epstein,” one document says. “Such representations are in contravention of Justice Department regulations and Florida bar rules. Such representations also give, at least, the improper appearance that Reinhart may have attempted to curry with Epstein and then reap his reward through favorable employment.”

Reinhart responded with a motion for sanctions, saying the documents contained “unfounded factual and legal accusations.” He asked for leave to intervene in the case.

But the FIB always fights for “truth, justice and the American way!” Right?

As Jack Posobiec, political commentator and former intelligence officer, points out in his podcast that back in the Viet Nam era no one trusted the FIB and the government. We have a national security state in charge of our government. The FIB & CIA are the 4th branch, the operations arm of the administrative state. Then he gave a list. It’s worth listening to the podcast. They lied about a lot. Comey, Mueller and many other familiar names have been corrupt for a long time. The “Did you know” part is quite interesting. This episode was called American Stasi.

But let’s see, what happened with some people it sure seems should have been investigated?

Not Raided by FBI: Bidens, Clintons, Russia Hoaxers, Black Lives Matter

FBI raid on Trump compound stands in stark contrast to Clinton treatment years earlier

Hunter’s FBI

You would think that the FIB would have a clue how the normal average American would feel about seeing their country turned into a banana republic by a corrupt justice department. You would think that Merrick Garland would have a clue, but hey his son-in-law makes his money selling Critical Race Theory materials to schools and he sicced the FIB on parents calling them terrorists and he got away with that, so guess he’s not worried. And I don’t think they have a clue.

How the FBI’s Raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Was Viewed by Millions of Americans

The message is clear. The government under Democrats hates us, and they will sic federal agencies on Americans who dare to defy the parameters and agenda set by the political class. If half the nation doesn’t feel that justice is blind, that federal law enforcement agencies are professional and impartial, and that law and order is now dependent on party affiliation, then the stability of our system could be placed in doubt. Democrats have set us on a path toward civil war if they continue with this campaign of overreach under Biden

And now the corrupt BATFE is getting in on the act.

Sinister move by ATF should serve as warning Seems the BATFE now wants addresses for buyers that are delayed!

But as the letter notes, the ATF is demanding contact information for delayed NICS checks.

For the uninitiated, this may make perfect sense. After all, we don’t know if those delayed checks are criminals trying to buy guns or not.

Except, that’s literally not how the law works. A delayed background check is supposed to be treated as a passed check. Further, according to a couple of gun store owners and employees I’ve spoken with, something like 95 percent, at a minimum, of all delayed NICS checks are people with no criminal history. The system just created a delay for some unfathomable reason.

This is bad! The whole DOJ is corrupt. But, I have a practical solution to these problems and more!

Our southern border is a hot mess. When Republicans take control of the house and senate in January all the new IRS agents, who are very well armed, are going to be sent to the border to help secure it. All 87,000 of them. The FIB and the ATF are going to be disbanded in the current form. But I don’t want the good people that have been held hostage by the corruption at the top to be un-employed in the Biden “recovery”. Nope, they will now be tasked with finding all the illegal immigrants in our country. They’re trained for that, right? They will round them up and ship them back to their country of origin. This will save our country millions of dollars! And lastly, fire Merrick Garland, Chris Wray and Steven Dettelbach. Now that will be money well saved, and from the firing of those three we give the border patrol bonuses! See! There are solutions! Follow me for more practical, money saving budgeting ideas.

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