Government Use of Firearm Serial Numbers Ruled Unconstitutional

Above, I was able to verify my Winchester 94's manufacture history
through its serial number online before buying it. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I bought my Winchester 1894 rifle three years ago, I was able to first verify its manufacture history with my phone through its serial number. I confirmed that it was a pre-1964 model made in 1962. That's the intent of having serial numbers on firearms, for both the manufacturer and owner.

But in 1990, that was subverted by a law that made serial numbers available as a registration number for the government to track and ultimately lead to gun confiscation.

However, that provision has been recently ruled unconstitutional. 

According to AmmoLand:

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-– The most dangerous use of a serial number on a firearm is as a registration number. In effect, gun registration is gun confiscation. It was not the intent for which serial numbers were made. They were created to track firearms with production changes and as a way for government arsenals to track the production and military use of weapons.

A federal court recently held a law passed in 1990, which makes possessing a firearm with a removed serial (registration) number illegal, is unconstitutional.

This is an important decision. It has relatively minor effects at this time. The law was a step toward universal firearms registration.

Finding the law unconstitutional subverts the push for government control over firearms.

Suppose a person cannot be punished for merely possessing a firearm from which a serial number has been removed. In that case, the entire scheme for government control over legally owned firearms falls apart.

To read more, go here.

Gun Store Purchases: Just Use Cash

Above, an Albuquerque gun store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Democrats are a huge collection of sneaky bastards who would love to create a gun registry for the ultimate aim of gun confiscation.

The latest is the move by the International Standards Organization, who sets rules on Visa and other credit card companies. Under Democrat pressure, the plan is to introduce a special purchase code for gun store sales. Through the back door, this is nothing less than creating a special registry of gun sales.

The code doesn't differentiate between purchases of guns, gun cleaning products or anything else. Anything purchased at a gun store gets the code when bought with a credit card.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is fighting it.

From CBS News:

The National Rifle Association is slamming the credit card industry's new effort to track gun purchases, describing the plan as "creating a national registry of gun owners."

The NRA is pushing back against decision on Friday from the International Standards Organization (ISO), which sets rules across the financial services industry, to create a new merchant category code for gun and ammunition retailers. ISO's decision comes after mounting pressure on credit card companies by Democrats in Congress who favor use of such a code. 

Merchant category codes are four-digit codes that describe the retailer where a purchase is made, without detailing the specific item bought. These codes allow credit-card issuers to track and restrict purchases — for instance, offering rewards credit cards that give bonus points for travel purchases or cash-back on grocery spending.

On Monday, the NRA questioned the purpose of the new code and the motives for creating it. 

"The ISO's decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time," NRA spokesman Lars Dalseide said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "This is not about tracking or prevention or any virtuous motivation — it's about creating a national registry of gun owners."

Visa, Mastercard and American Express all said they plan to move forward with the plan to categorize gun shop sales.

This looks to be a long battle. In the meantime, if one is to make a purchase at a gun shop, just use cash. It is legal to buy guns with cash.

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. 

Walmart Turning Over Customer Gun Records To ATF

Not that I have anything to hide, but I am glad that I never purchased a firearm at Walmart. All my purchases have been through small gun stores or sporting goods stores who respect the Second Amendment.

According to AmmoLand, Walmart is closing down around 500 gun departments and signs "suggest" that the sales records of firearms will be going to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

AmmoLand posted:

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- It appears Walmart is transferring their customer sales records for firearms purchases to the ATF. These records will be transferred to the ATF from the 500 stores that have discontinued the sale of firearms. This information comes to AmmoLand News from a recently leaked internal ATF conference call.

A former ATF Assistant Director confirmed to AmmoLand News that Walmart plans to discontinue gun sales at 500 of its stores nationwide. As of January of this year, 2388 Walmart stores sell guns.

When an FFL closes a location the ATF allows the transfer of documents to a “successor” federal firearm licensed dealer. Walmart could transfer the 4473 records from those stores that are ending sales to another regional store location that still sells firearms.

If Walmart chose to, they could shield their customer's information from direct access by ATF.

Walmart appears to be handing over, for locations ending gun sales, the customer's records to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (ATF).

Why is this so important?

The National Association for Gun Rights wrote:

We’ve been told for years that background checks are not gun registration, yet that is exactly what they are in the case of the thousands of lawful gun owners who bought firearms from Walmart.

The ATF is the same agency that has spent the last month raiding businesses, banning gun parts, and visiting homes of gun buyers to confiscate banned items. This is why so-called “background checks'' are gun registration.

From AmmoLand:

Federal law prohibits the creation of a national gun registry. Yet, this appears to be what is happening, not only with Walmart’s records but all other out of business FFL records that are turned over at the close of business.

18 USC. Section 926(a)(3) states that:

No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established.

Gun registration leads to gun confiscation!

With the exception of medication, I have avoided shopping at Walmart because their stance on firearms for the past two years.

To read more, go here.