Judges Rules Against Another Biden-Era Policy

The Trump Administration isn't the only one dismantling Biden era gun edicts. 

The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives) was found to have overstepped its authority without congressional approval in expanding on who has to register as a FFL gun dealer.

America's 1st Freedom reported:

In a landmark ruling that signals a victory for law-abiding gun owners, a federal court ruled against the Biden administration’s 2024 rule, Definition of “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms—an expansive reinterpretation of who must register as a federal firearms dealer. The decision, issued this week by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Butler v. Bondi, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had overstepped its authority and effectively rewritten federal law without congressional approval.

At the heart of the case was the ATF’s Final Rule, announced in April 2024, which attempted to “clarify” the criteria for determining when an individual is considered “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms. The court, however, saw it differently. The court ruled that the ATF’s interpretation wasn’t a clarification at all, but an unlawful expansion of the definition Congress established nearly four decades ago and amended in 2022 with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Federal law has long required anyone “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms to obtain a federal firearms license (FFL). Under the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986, that phrase was specifically defined to apply to those who buy and sell guns “as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit.” Congress also made sure to carve out explicit protections for private gun owners—stating that those who make “occasional sales, exchanges or purchases” for a hobby or personal collection are not considered to be in the business of selling firearms.

To read more, go here. 

SCOTUS Overturns Bump Stock Ban

Above, the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Photo by Joe Ravi.

Some good news has come from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ban on bump stocks has been overturned.

The Daily Caller reported:

The Supreme Court tossed a Trump administration-era ban on bump stocks Friday.

In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) exceeded its authority when it issued a rule classifying firearms equipped with bump stocks as machine guns. The case, Garland v. Cargill, challenged the ban enacted following the 2017 Las Vegas concert mass shooting, which it implemented by interpreting a federal law restricting the transfer or possession of machine guns to include bump stocks.

To read more, go here. 

ATF Asks Bitter Exes to Turn in Their Former Partners

It is not known to me if the following is serious or a joke.

But knowing that it originated from the administration of His Fraudulency Joe Biden, I would take it seriously.

From Headline USA:

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) fired off a shameful tweet today, commemorating Valentine’s Day by encouraging angry women to turn in their ex-boyfriends, the American Military News reported.

Valentine’s Day can still be fun even if you broke up. Do you have information about a former (or current) partner involved in illegal gun activity? Let us know, and we will make sure it’s a Valentine’s Day to remember! Call 1-888-ATF-TIPS or email ATFTips@atf.gov. pic.twitter.com/OdDIPdIzkr

— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) February 14, 2022

To read more, go here. 

And, from The Hill.

Democrats Pushing Gun Registry as Precursor to Gun Ban

Registration of firearms with the government will lead to gun confiscation. This has been the crux of the fight against gun control and confiscation. It is no conspiracy theory, it is fact.

John R. Lott Jr. at Real Clear Politics lays it all out in a new commentary posted yesterday.

Here's some snippets:

Federal law explicitly prohibits the creation of a federal firearm registry, but the Biden administration is making one anyway. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has collected nearly one billion firearm purchase records. The government has now created a searchable digital database containing 866 million of these transactions, including some 54 million made in 2021 alone.

This massive data collection effort encompasses information on all guns sold by licensed gun dealers, and on all legal gun transfers in states with so-called universal background checks. So, federal officials will have the name of everyone who legally obtained a gun. Now, President Biden wants to make universal background checks nationwide so he can have an even more complete registration list.

According to a Rasmussen Reports survey, Democrats support the idea by a 2-1 ratio, while Republicans oppose it by a similar margin. Two-thirds of Republicans believe the policy will lead to gun confiscation, and even 40% of Democrats believe the same. Confiscating legally owned firearms, it seems, is not merely a right-wing conspiracy theory.

Conducting background checks to see if someone can legally buy a gun is different from the government keeping a searchable record of those who own guns. Indeed, federal law has always required that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System erase background check information within 24 hours of its completion.

Why do Democrats keep pushing a policy that costs so much and has no crime-reducing benefits? With so many Democrat voters supporting complete gun bans, many Republicans and Democrats believe that the registry is designed to pave the way for a ban on guns.

This one of many reasons that we must oust every Democrat as we can this election year.

To read the full article, go here.

ATF Reveals It Has a National Gun Registry Already in Place

The Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA):

As such, FOPA makes it illegal for the national government or any state in the country to keep any database or registry that ties firearms directly to their owner.

 

Having a national gun registry is forbidden by acts of congress.

However, the Biden regime has created one anyway at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This is the first step towards gun confiscation.

According to the New American:

When the Washington Free Beacon obtained documents last November revealing that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had more than 54 million records of Americans who purchased firearms from local gun dealers, Representative Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and 51 other members of Congress demanded answers. In November he expressed his “concern”:

We are concerned that this Administration is leveraging its power in a way to establish a federal gun registry….

Congress has made it clear … that the federal government shall not create a federal gun registry and has prohibited ATF from creating any centralized databases.

The controversy gets even more concerning.

[ATF Assistant Director Daniel] Board then tried to explain that the ATF’s purposes in keeping such an immense database were benign:

The OBR [database does] not capture and store certain key information, such as firearms purchaser information in an automated file….

The ATF National Tracing Center … only traces crime guns … ATF is confident that it does not violate any laws.

Cloud didn’t buy it, telling the Free Beacon:

A federal firearm registry is explicitly banned by law. Yet, the Biden administration is again circumventing Congress and enabling the notably corrupt ATF to manage a database of nearly a billion gun transfer records.

Under the president’s watch, the ATF has increased surveillance of American gun owners at an abhorrent level. The Biden administration continues to empower criminals and foreign nationals while threatening the rights of law-abiding Americans.

To read more, go here. 

Government Proves It Cannot Be Trusted With Gun Owner Data

Throughout history, tyrannical governments have used gun confiscation to maintain power.

The latest is the Taliban going door-to-door in Afghanistan confiscating guns of Afghans.

The U.S. government has proven to be not trustedworthy when it comes to the safekeeping of gun owner data. 

From the NRA-ILA:

The federal government has rarely made a habit of covering itself in glory, but in recent weeks it seems determined to engender mistrust among the American public. In only the last month, three fresh examples of the federal government’s inability to secure sensitive data have come to light. These examples of official incompetence have once again made clear that the federal government cannot be trusted with gun owner data.

Federal bureaucrats and gun control advocates have made clear that they want the government to maintain more information on firearms and firearm owners. ATF routinely whines about how the out-of-business dealer records (4473s) housed at the National Tracing Center have not been converted into a digitized searchable format. ATF director nominee and paid gun control lobbyist David Chipman has called for the federal registration of tens of millions of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms.

Gun rights advocates understand that collection of gun and gun owner data facilitates firearm confiscation. In addition to several notable instances in foreign countries, registration records were used to confiscate firearms in New York City in 1991 and 2013. Prominent U.S. politicians such as President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have all called for gun confiscation. National Council to Control Handguns (now Brady) Chairman Nelson “Pete” Shields acknowledged registration as a prerequisite to handgun confiscation.

However, the ever-present threat of confiscation is not the only compelling argument against the government collecting data on guns and gun owners. The federal government’s impotence in safeguarding data is a constant threat to gun owner privacy.

 To read more, go here.

David Chipman's Flailing ATF Nomination

Radical gun-grabber David Chipman's nomination to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives appears to be going down in flames. 

And rightfully so.

The Washington Examiner reported:

David Chipman’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives appears to be going down in smoke. That he was nominated at all is an indictment of President Joe Biden and his gun control agenda.

Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has reportedly signaled that he is currently opposed to Chipman’s nomination, which is already hanging by a thread, with Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia yet to make a call on whether they would help push him over the finish line. King’s opposition would be the end of the line.

Chipman was a terrible nominee from the moment Biden picked him. Chipman justified the ATF’s Waco raid of the Branch Davidian compound, where 86 people were killed in an unnecessarily militarized stunt. Chipman lied about Branch Davidians shooting down two Texas Air National Guard helicopters.

Let's hope Chipman gets voted down in the U.S. Senate.

To read the fully story, go here. 

ATF Trying To Facilitate National Gun Registration

Above, completing the paperwork for my purchase of my Winchester 84 at Ron Peterson Firearms. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This certainly isn't good news.

It appears the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms wants to start a national gun registry which, as we all know, is a big step for eventual gun confiscation.

According to Gun Owners of America:

The ATF has issued new rules that will alter the format for Form 4473’s and make it easier to create a national gun registry.

Here’s what we know. ATF agents have used annual inspections to electronically record the contents of Form 4473’s being kept by federal gun dealers.  

We also know that a software company exhibiting its wares at the Shot Show in Las Vegas has crafted a system where ATF can take the contents of all the dealer’s Bound Book entries (which contain all of the buyer’s personal information and gun information which is on a Form 4473) by simply capturing them on a thumb drive. 

We know that billionaire “Midget Mike” Bloomberg has made Universal Background Checks/National Gun Registries the centerpiece of his $2 BILLION campaign for the presidency — presumably because, if everyone with a gun has a 4473, then everyone with a gun will be in the national gun registry being compiled by ATF, using its copies of 4473’s.  

The movie, Red Dawn, shows how the 4473 form can be used as a backdoor gun registry. In the movie, a Cuban commander orders an officer to obtain the 4473s from the sporting goods store, so the invading forces know who owns firearms. 

The "fit will hit the shan" should this be implemented.

To read more (and have access to important links), go here. 

Common AR-15 Green Tip Ammunition Already Banned In New ATF Regulation Guide

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pulled a fast one on all of us in regard to the AR-15 "green tip" bullet ban proposal.

They have already effectively banned the bullet according to their latest Regulation Guide.

Townhall.com reported:

On Friday February 13 at 4:00 pm, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms released a proposal to ban commonly used M855 "green tip" AR-15 ammunition under the guise of law enforcement safety. The same day the proposal was released, on a Friday of a three day holiday weekend, ATF opened up a shortened 30-day period for the public to submit comments about the new regulation.  

But it turns out, ATF has been working on a ban of AR-15 "green-tip" ammunition for quite some time and has already issued the ban in its new, 2014 Regulation Guide. For reference, ATF Regulation Guides come out approximately every ten years. 

This makes the 30-day public comment period "only for show" and a sham. It also violates the Administrative Procedure Act and goes around Congress to violate our Second Amendment Rights.

That is why people need to fight back over these tyrannical actions by the federal (i.e., Obama) government.

To read more, go here.

To read the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, go here.

UPDATE: The ATF now says the missing exemption for the AR-15 "green tip" ammo was a "publishing mistake":

To read more, go here.

Mexican Beauty Queen Killed In Shootout; Fast & Furious Weapon Found At Scene

Above, Maria Susana Flores Gamez.

From CBS News:

Another weapon from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency's controversial Operation Fast and Furious was recently recovered at a Mexican crime scene, CBS News has learned. Congressional investigators say the crime scene was likely where a recent shootout took place between reported Sinaloa drug cartel members and the Mexican military, in which Sinaloa beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez and four others were killed.

Operation Fast and Furious was set up supposedly to track weapons from the U.S. into Mexico (despite no means of actually tracking them) by the Obama Administration.  2,000 weapons (including .50 caliber guns) ended up in the hands of drug cartels in Mexico where they were used to kill at least 300 people, including border patrol agent Brian Terry.

The actual motive was to blame the gun dealers (who were working for the Justice Dept.'s ATF) for the weapons ending up in Mexico so that gun control legislation would pass the then-Democrat controlled Congress.  But the fiasco involving Terry's killing blew up in their faces.

Now, following the tragedy of Sandy Hook in Connecticut, the same Obama Administration, who is responsible over the Fast and Furious fiasco, is beating the drums for gun control.

The Obama Administration has more blood on its hands than the killer of Sandy Hook.

For the full story, go here.

Family Of Brian Terry Files $25 Million Claim

I am pleased to see that the family of Brian Terry initiated this.

From Fox News:

The family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming Terry was killed with AK-47s that were knowingly sold under the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe to a straw purchaser for drug cartels.

In a 65-page complaint, filed in Arizona state court on Wednesday, attorneys for the family claim ATF "wrongdoing" in Operation Fast and Furious.

“ATF's failures were not only negligent but in violation of ATF's own policies and procedures," the complaint claims.

The family has also filed a claim against the Lone Wolf Trading Company seeking unspecified damages for negligence in selling the weapons to the purchaser and aiding and abetting in Mexican drug cartels’ conduct.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/01/family-murdered-border-patrol-agent-files-25m-suit-against-atf/#ixzz1lBp0g9kd

In a related story, the Beaufort Observer reported that new documents released last week show that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress.

They report:

A new release of documents from the Justice Department January 27, 2011 show conclusively that Eric Holder lied to Congress when he said he did not know about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's being killed by Fast and Furious guns until "weeks" later.

To read the full story go here.

I hope the Terry family wins and Holder gets thrown in jail.