BATFE

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Who Should Be Trump’s Pick To Head ATF?

December 13, 2024 by 1 Comment

One of the major nominations not yet released by President Trump is who will head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. I think it goes without debate that current head Steve Dettelbach will be replaced.

Two names that have been suggested are Brandon Herrera, aka The AK Guy, and Blake Masters.

Herrera would love to see the ATF abolished and there has been a vocal campaign to have him nominated for the position. He has indicated he’d accept the position if offered. He ran as a pro-gun candidate in the GOP primary against incumbent US Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and lost by a mere 400 votes in a run-off.

A second person who has been suggested is Blake Master of Arizona. A protégé of venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Masters is a lawyer and venture capitalist. He lost the Arizona US Senate race in 2022 to Mark Kelly and was defeated in a GOP primary for Congress this year. Like Herrera, he has touted his 2A credentials.

I have a modest proposal for an alternative that meets all the criteria: law enforcement experience, knows guns, is comfortable testifying before Congress, and is a real 2A activist.

Dianna Muller!

Law enforcement experience? Di served 22 years with the Tulsa Police Department including units dealing with drugs and gangs. She has the street cred to be respected by ATF special agents. Moreover, I have no doubt she can outshoot almost every one of them.

Knows guns? Professional shooter, two-time national 3-gun champion, hunter, and the list goes on and on. While not a gunsmith, she could hold her own with the ATF’s Technical Branch.

Testified before Congress? Dianna has testified multiple times before Congress and is famous for saying she would “not comply” with any AWB.

2A activist? She founded The DC Project which has now become Women for Gun Rights. I was at the SHOT Show in 2015 and attended her rollout of the idea. It was smart then and it is smart today. She recognized that having women from all 50 states go to Congress and lobby for gun rights was an effective way of delivering the message. Their motto of Educate, Not Legislate is an effective message and their teal t-shirts really stand out.

2020 Turn SHOT Teal
DC Project Photo

I haven’t run this by Di and I have no idea if she would even consider it. I know I’d be running the other way but Di has always impressed me as a someone who is willing to step up when needed. I do know if Dianna isn’t interested or willing someone else from Women for Gun Rights like Holly Sullivan who also heads the Connecticut Citizens Defense League would make a great alternative.

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Snark For A Friday Morning

June 28, 2024 by 4 Comments

I’ve been a little slack for the last week or so about blogging. I hope this little tidbit will make up for it. I saw it on X or Twitter this morning. The response was so perfect especially coming on a day when the Supreme Court finally (!) killed the abomination that was the Chevron Doctrine. Combine Looper Bright with Cargill and there are a lot of sad faces at 99 New York Ave, NE, in DC.

Enjoy!

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DOJ Says One Thing And Does Another

August 31, 2023 by 1 Comment

The Department of Justice announced a new regulation and plans to update the definition as just who is a dealer in firearms. I won’t get into the meat of the proposal but one thing in their release just jumped out at me.

From the news release:

Federally licensed firearms dealers are critical partners to federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement in our shared goal of promoting public safety. They help keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited persons by running background checks on potential purchasers; ensure that crime guns can be traced back to their first retail purchaser by keeping records of transactions; and facilitate safe storage of firearms by providing child-safety locks with every transferred handgun and offering customers other secure gun storage options.

If FFLs are such critical partners to law enforcement in the shared goal of promoting public safety, then why does the Biden Administration demand the ATF treat them like shit?

There are stories after story about how the ATF’s Industry Operations Inspectors are combing the records of dealers during their audits looking for something, anything, with which to use to revoke the dealer’s license. They are deeming clerical errors as “willful” and thus subject to zero tolerance. Moreover, if a dealer just happens to be a plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit against the ATF, they are doubly sure of getting a rectal exam type of audit from ATF. Witness the cases of Michael Cargill in Texas and Morehouse Enterprises in North Dakota.

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ATF Gets Stay On VanDerStok Injunction (Update)

July 29, 2023 by 1 Comment

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was successful in getting an administrative stay in VanDerStok v. Garland from the Supreme Court. Judge Reed O’Connor had granted a nationwide injunction against the implementation of the ATF’s frame or receiver rule. He had determined it was in “excess of their statutory jurisdiction”.

As might be expected, ATF and the Department of Justice appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which refused to grant a stay of Judge O’Connor’s order. The 5th Circuit said the ATF had not “demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits, nor irreparable harm in the absence of a stay.” The 5th Circuit still will be hearing ATF’s appeal of Judge O’Connor’s final order.

Yesterday, the ATF and DOJ filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to receive a stay while the case is under appeal. This would mean the Final Rule would still remain in effect while it was being appealed.

Today, Justice Alito granted an administrative stay until August 4th at 5pm.

UPON CONSIDERATION of the application of counsel for the applicants,


IT IS ORDERED that the June 30, 2023 order and July 5, 2023 final judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No. 4:22-cv-691, are hereby administratively stayed until 5 p.m. (EDT) on Friday, August 4, 2023. It is further ordered that any response to the application be filed on or before Wednesday, August 2, 2023, by 5 p.m. (EDT)

Well, crap!

I am sure the attorneys for the Firearms Policy Coalition as well as DOJ are working hard to craft their responses as I write.

UPDATE: Attorney and law professor Mark Smith of The Four Boxes Diner has an explanation of what happened yesterday. The administrative stay was requested by the Solicitor General and the SCOTUS usually grants these without question. Bottom line is that we shouldn’t panic.

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Tell Me This Is Not Retribution!

July 1, 2023 by 7 Comments

Michael Cargill is the owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin. He is also the plaintiff in Cargill v. Garland which successfully challenged the BATFE’s ban on bump stocks. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found for Cargill in an en banc appeal in January. The US Justice Department appealed that decision to the Supreme Court and is seeking a writ of certiorari.

With that as a background, I find the following full blown audit of Central Texas Gun Works by BATFE inspectors as rather suspicious.

It would be hard to convince me that this is a normal routine inspection and not an effort at retribution by the Justice Department and their henchmen at BATFE. Given the Biden Administration’s new policy of “zero tolerance”, one is left to wonder if they are not seeking a way – anyway! – to put Cargill out of business. I don’t think two misspellings of the city name “Austin” are worthy of it but one never knows with the BATFE.

As with the IRS raid on a gun store in Montana, I think it is time for publicity by the representatives and senators from Texas. While the representative who covers the district where the store is located, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), is an anti-gun tool in the pockets of the Demanding Moms, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX) need to step up and start asking questions.

If you are a Texan reading this, call Cruz and Cornyn and demand they get answers. Being an out-of-stater they don’t have to listen to me but they sure need to listen to a constituent.

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ATF Is On It!

March 31, 2023 by 2 Comments

I just received an automated call from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It was to inform me that effective March 29th, the North Carolina pistol purchase permit was no longer acceptable as a NICS check substitute given the passage of SB 41 into law.

The message went on to say that existing permits issued before the date of repeal would no longer be accepted in lieu of the NICS check. I guess those prohibited persons who obtained a permit prior to becoming a prohibited are now out of luck.

I received this call because I hold a Curios and Relics FFL. However, as a collector, I am not required to fill out the Form 4473 for a sale nor am I required to do a NICS check. The ATF must have lumped anyone who held any sort of FFL into one big database for the call.

The bottom line is we can be assured that the bureaucrats at ATF are on it! That being said, they have not issued a revised letter advising FFLs that the pistol purchase permit is no longer qualifies as an alternative to a NICS check. The only “Brady letter” for NC on their site is from 1998.

UPDATE: BATFE is into the belt and suspenders approach. In addition to the phone call this morning, they also sent out this email.

This is an important message from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On November 13, 1998, ATF issued an Open Letter to All North Carolina Federal Firearms Licensees advising them that the North Carolina pistol purchase permit qualifies as an alternative to NICS. On March 29, 2023, North Carolina Senate Bill 41 overcame the North Carolina Governor’s veto and became law that same day. North Carolina Senate Bill 41 repeals GS 14-402, which required the pistol purchase permit to acquire a pistol from an FFL. Additionally, the North Carolina pistol purchase permit is no longer considered an approved NICS alternate permit.

Accordingly, effective March 29, 2023 , North Carolina pistol purchase permits – regardless of when issued – may not be used as an alternative to the NICS background check requirement.

North Carolina’s concealed handgun permits are unaffected by Senate Bill 41 and will continue to serve as an alternative to a NICS check requirement. Please contact your local ATF office if you have additional questions.

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Firearms Business Conference – Zero Tolerance Inspections

February 21, 2023 by

I wrote last week that Montgomery Community College was holding a Firearm Business Conference. I had planned to attend virtually using Zoom. Due to some technical difficulties, I wasn’t able to catch everything. However, all sessions were recorded and now are up on YouTube.

One session that really caught my eye was on the zero tolerance inspection policy demanded by the Biden Administration. It was taught by Judy Ladeaux of NSSF. Prior to joining NSSF, she was the Director of Industry Operations in the ATF’s Columbus Field Division.

One interesting topic that came up around the 10 minute mark of the video below was where a state-issued CCW permit substitutes for a NICS check. As she made clear, a purchaser may still be in possession of a revoked CCW permit while being a prohibited person. That can very well be caught during the compliance inspection. While it will not be considered “willful” and result in a revocation of your FFL, it will still be a black mark. She said she had suggested to many FFLs while still with ATF that they could require a NICS check on all sales regardless of a CCW.

Listening to her you really get a feeling for just how nit-picky that Industry Operations Inspectors have been forced to become. While the goal is to make every firearm traceable – including your Polymer 80 type frames – the absurdity of it is that it only goes to the original purchaser in most cases. Firearms can change hands privately in most states without another background check. There is nothing requiring the seller to even get the buyer’s name, address, etc. Now I think you and I might think that would be a good idea to cover our asses but it usually isn’t required unless you live in an Un-Free State.

The last 10 minutes of the session are spent on the things that will get your FFL yanked by ATF and especially the “five deadly sins”.

For those of us who are not dealers, this is good background information. For those that hold a FFL, I would study this video and watch it multiple times. It could be that your livelihood depends upon it.

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Cartoon Of The Day

February 8, 2023 by 3 Comments

I found this on MeWe posted by a friend.

Reinterpreting regulations in such a way as to make possession of an item a felony is the modus operandi of the BATFE. They did it with bump stocks and they are doing it now with pistol braces.

It is now up to the courts to push back on this. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals did it with Cargill v. Garland. There are now at least four cases before US District Courts challenging the BATFE on their new pistol brace rule. Fingers crossed that the judges will do the right thing.

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BOHICA – Pistol Brace Rule

January 13, 2023 by

We knew it was coming. Some had speculated it would be released during the SHOT Show. However, the weasel running the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, decided to release the new pistol brace rule on the Friday before a long weekend. This is usually the case when you don’t want to make a big splash with an announcement.

In his press release, Garland said this:

“Keeping our communities safe from gun violence is among the Department’s highest priorities,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Almost a century ago, Congress determined that short-barreled rifles must be subject to heightened requirements. Today’s rule makes clear that firearm manufacturers, dealers, and individuals cannot evade these important public safety protections simply by adding accessories to pistols that transform them into short-barreled rifles.”

SBRs were not added to the NFA by Congress because they “must be subject to heightened requirements”. Rather, the original proposed NFA would have banned handguns and the drafters wanted to make sure that cutting down a rifle didn’t make it into a pistol. When Congress said there was no way in hell that they would ban pistols, the bit about SBRs was forgotten.

ATF Director Steve Dettelbach who knows diddly squat about firearms added:

“This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns. The reason for that is that short-barreled rifles have the greater capability of long guns, yet are easier to conceal, like a pistol,” said ATF Director Steven Dettelbach. “But certain so-called stabilizing braces are designed to just attach to pistols, essentially converting them into short-barreled rifles to be fired from the shoulder. Therefore, they must be treated in the same way under the statute.”

More bullshit. Screw the disabled for whom pistol braces were designed.

The rest of the release includes some gems as “more easily concealable”, “more destructive power”, and “heightened requirements”. In other words, the more they can demonize pistol braces, the better in their minds.

I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation at the SHOT Show. Likewise, I am sure that the lawsuits are already prepared and ready to be filed. It also increases the importance of the 5th Circuit’s ruling in Cargill v. Garland. Under the doctrine of lenity, the ATF cannot just say something is what it isn’t and thus make it a felony to possess one unregistered. That is the job of Congress.

The rule which was released today goes into effect in 120 days.

Here is the full rule and the factoring criteria.