by Whoever is the social media specialist at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is clueless. Their Facebook page is evidence of that.
Often their posts seem more like an effort to tee up negative comments than anything else. They go on about straw purchasing which tees up questions about Project Gunwalker aka Operation Fast and Furious. They talk about arson which tees up responses dealing with the raid on the Branch Davidian compound. Indeed, on February 28th, the anniversary of the ATF raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, they memorialize the agents killed in the raid. You can imagine the comments that engendered!
Today’s post was celebrating the enactment of the National Firearms Act on June 26, 1934. I am posting a screen shot of it below.
Umm. The NFA Handbook says on the length of rifle barrels, “A rifle subject to the NFA has a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length.”
I think ATF’s Facebook page needs to have a disclaimer on it. Something like, “This page is for entertainment purposes only. Do not rely on it for regulatory or legal issues because we will get it wrong.”
I admit the primary reason I even pay attention to the page is to read the comments by well-known libertarian Spike Cohen. His comment today is representative of them.
88 years of doing nothing but violating people’s rights, criminalizing and murdering peaceful people, and government agencies trafficking guns to cartels and terrorists.
And all because, instead of just admitting that alcohol prohibition had led to massive gang violence, government decided to blame the guns. The same guns that had been available for sale at stores and in magazines by mail for anyone, with no regulation whatsoever, and with no previous massive violence.
Turns out government has a long, proud history of making everything it touches worse.
Happy Birthday. May it be your agency’s last one.
I don’t know how many of our tax dollars go to support the person or persons responsible for handling social media for ATF but I know that it is money wasted.
Technically they’re correct, although I don’t think whichever ATF employee posted that realizes that they’re correct.
When the NFA was originally passed, rifles with barrels under 18″ were NFA-regulated. Then after WWII the government sold a bunch of M1 carbines as surplus to the general public. Although M1 carbines are supposed to have 18″ barrels, apparently some were made with something like 17 1/2″ barrels. Today the ATF would go kick in doors and shoot a bunch of dogs in order to confiscate all the rifles, but in the early 50’s, Congress instead had the bright idea to lower the barrel length limit to 16″ and avoid the whole issue.
I am going to have to quibble over this. While the original law as written did specify 18 inches as the minimum, the way the post reads indicates that rifles still must be 18 or more inches.
It says: “Firearms subject to the 1934 Act included shotguns and rifles having barrels less than 18 inches in length.” Past tense “included,” not present tense “include.” The NFA as originally written did include rifles under 18″. However, I’m guessing that error is due to poor proofreading and/or lack of knowledge on some ATF intern’s part than some intention to make people think that <18" barreled rifles are currently NFA-regulated for some reason. I'm just saying that the post is technically correct, almost certainly through no fault of the ATF's.
I don’t understand how or why a simple government agency should celebrate the passage of an act that took away the freedom of the American people. Instead, it should be a day like Memorial Day, to remember a death of something important. Add in the signing of the renewed Patriot Act, which hammered in more nails into the coffin of our freedoms yet again.
Just when you start to think that they can’t stoop any lower, they find a shovel and dig a hole so that they can go deeper. Now that the hornets nest has been kicked over, the left better be careful where they try and sting, lest they find out that it might hurt them more than it does the conservatives.
The ATF is celebrating their raison d’être.
I suppose it is a good gig if you can stomach it. NKVD members probably loved their job too.
Let them celebrate while they still can. I doubt the NFA will make it to 90 intact under the new standard.
It was the FBI that committed murder by arson at Waco, not the ATF.
Hey, just got an email from the NRA-ILA claiming they won Bruen. I can forward it to you if you don’t have it.
The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association is the state’s largest and nation’s oldest firearms advocacy organization. Since 1871, our organization has been dedicated to the preservation of Second Amendment rights, firearm safety, education and training, and the shooting sports. Our membership consists of individuals and clubs throughout the state. We are a not-for-profit 501(c)4 organization and the official NRA-affiliated State Association in New York.
From the website of NYSRPA, so yes the NRA did win the case via their affiliate.