by I was passed the unclassified document below by a friend of a friend. It is published by the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Center Team. The ostensible purposes is to make “first responders” aware of “privately made firearms”. It was just published on June 22nd but not made public. It contains a notice that it is for official use only and not to be made available to the public, the media, or other personnel without authorization from DCTC, DHS, or the FBI.
Just like all the 3-D printing files out there, you cannot stop the signal. If I have it, others have it.
While it contains the disclaimer that “many of the activities described herein may involve Constitutionally protected activities and may be insignificant on their own”, the whole tenor of the six page document is that only criminals, terrorists, and domestic extremists (from the right) would ever engage in making their own firearms. I guess that would make the Gun Maker’s Match recently held in Florida a gathering of “domestic terrorists”. No matter that the sponsors included 2A Gaming, Brownells, GOA, and the Firearms Policy Coalition among others.
JCAT asserts that awareness of PMFs (personally made firearms) can enable first responders to aid in their recovery, prevent illicit activities such as terrorism, and promote public safety. It then goes into how a RMVE group used a foreign instant messaging service to post files on 3D printing and machining. In government speak, RMVE is a “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist group. In other words, despite the assertions of Attorney General Merrick Garland that they are everywhere, it is referring to the handful of white supremacists.
In my opinion, this demonization of 3D printing and machining and personally made firearms is all part of the same campaign to outlaw the sale of 80% lowers/frames and the like.
Read the document for yourself and make your own decision on its purpose.
As a first responder, I can authoritatively state that this report is total CRAP and useless for 1st Responders! We aren’t cops and don’t give a rat’s ass about serial numbers or why someone may have one. There is nothing more dangerous to us about personally made firearms compared to commercially manufactured ones. Firearms and ammo, no matter the quantity is no more dangerous that the other nightmare stuff we can run into (like the meth lab that blew up in a 6th floor apartment another department recently dealt with). Firearms burn or melt, and ammo burns and mostly pops off harmlessly. Even large quantities of powder like a reloader may have would burn furiously but burn out rather quickly. A loaded semi-automatic firearm however, could be deadly in a fire, because the round would be contained in a chamber and act as though it were properly fired if it went off. If the firearm were a semi-auto it could conceivably reload and fire repeatedly if conditions were right.
Gee, according to that document, if we have a fire and I call the fire department, I’m in deep yogurt! I have two CNC mills and a 3-D printer! Never mind the engines in the room and on display that I build, I must be supplying whoever this year’s version of the Nicaraguan Contras are. Or the Evil Devil incarnate, Oath Keepers!
It says, “more than 23,906 nonseralized firearms were reported recovered by law enforcement from potential crime scenes from 2016 to 2020,” So how many firearms were seized in total in those four years. Are we talking 1 percent were nonserialized? 1/1000 of 1%? How many times does the serial number “matter” – as in lead to a conviction of the person using the gun? Again, 1%? I understand it’s low, but don’t know a number.
It’s the usual scare-mongering, like the whole campaign to outlaw the sale of 80% lowers/frames. They say in their rules they’re going to clarify the meaning of “readily converted.” The only thing I get out of that monstrosity is that it means to outlaw anything convenient. The ATF went after 80% Lowers (the company) because they were selling the unfinished lower kit along with the parts to complete it. That’s too convenient! It’s as if the Bureau wants us to crawl on our bellies through Death Valley between every step of completing an 80% lower. If that’s what they want, they should just say so.
Yes, people who make their own firearms are more than the nefarious crowd. As shown by the group of people at GMM, the group most heavily represented were nerds. People who invest the effort in making their own functioning firearms by hand fitting pieces together to ensure reliable function are not the same type of person who want to commit crimes for quick cash. There’s been a community of people hand filing their rifles for decades with no issue.
The ethos of the community embodied by GMM is DIY and love for mechanical systems. Its not much different from people who make their own cars.
Good job on the story
Would you consider using this document to reinforce a position when submitting a comment to ATF regarding the PMF/Ghost Gun proposal?
Ex: “According to the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Center, making a firearm for personal use is a Constitutionally Protected activity…”
Any download links available that don’t require a subscription please?
Which link requires a subscription? Let me know and I’ll see if I can fix it.
The scribd one is asking for me to log in before it will allow a download that I can read later, I’d rather not hand out my email, and don’t do facetwitgram. Subscription was wrong term, I should have said account. I can just read it online later if there isn’t an alternative.
I’ve removed the Scribd link and replaced it with an embedded PDF. I found a WordPress plugin that allows me to do that.
Went looking for the organization that issued this. There is nothing of exactly that name that shows up in a search except in the UK with their misspelling of Center.
This looks close but I am not sure it is exactly the same organization.
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/nctc-how-we-work/joint-ct-assessment-team/jcat-alumni
This link goes to the state/local agencies that have cooperated. Most of them are bad guys but there are a few that could be pressured to not participate. You can also use this to get to other places in their operation.
I think I called it “Center” when it should be “Team”