80% lowers

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Illicit Manufacturing Awareness?

June 28, 2021 by 11 Comments

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.

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Quote Of The Day

December 22, 2020 by 1 Comment

The quote of the day comes from my friend David Cole who blogs at DeltaBravoCharlie.com. It is from his Facebook page and captures the essence of the BATFE’s moves on 80% frames/lowers and pistol braces. The quote references Ayn Rand’s masterpiece Atlas Shrugged.

In case you’re not sure if your braced AR pistol or your 80% gun build is legal, remember this passage from “Atlas Shrugged”…

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against – then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”

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ATF Raid On Polymer80 – A Sign Of Things To Come? (Updated)

December 12, 2020 by 6 Comments

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ATF agents raided 80% lower maker Polymer80 yesterday.

From the WSJ:

Federal agents on Thursday raided one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of ghost-gun parts, a sign that federal law enforcement is cracking down on kits that allow people to make weapons at home.

The raid target, Nevada-based Polymer80, is suspected of illegally manufacturing and distributing firearms, failing to pay taxes, shipping guns across state lines and failing to conduct background investigations, according to an application for a search warrant unsealed Thursday after the raid took place.

The probe focuses on Polymer80’s “Buy Build Shoot Kit,” which includes the parts to build a “ghost” handgun. The kit, which Polymer80 sells online, meets the definition of a firearm, ATF investigators determined according to the warrant application. That means it would have to be stamped with a serial number and couldn’t be sold to consumers who haven’t first passed a background check.

The story goes on to note that there were no arrests and no charges have been filed.

Bear in mind that the ATF has previously determined that 80% lowers were not firearms and that Polymer80 has a determination letter to that effect.

One has to wonder if ATF is really concerned about the sale of parts kits or are they trying to curry favor with the probable Biden Administration in an effort to get their budget increased?

Mind you there are plenty of other places where you can purchase the necessary parts to finish out an 80% lower. I even thought about doing one until I started adding up the cost and concluded it just wasn’t worth it.

UPDATE: The Firearm Blog is reporting that ATF is now actively going after Polymer80 customers and forcing them to surrender the Buy Build Shoot Kit. The alternative offered to the owners of these kits is for the ATF to come back and raid their house with a warrant.

I think we know what they means. Your dog is shot, your kids are terrorized, your house is torn apart, your neighbors are scandalized, and everything will be shown in the 6pm new because media will have been alerted to be on the scene of the raid.

The ATF receipt as sent to TFB is below:

From The Firearms Blog
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Move Over 80% Lowers!

October 11, 2019 by 3 Comments

80% lowers have been around for a while now. In some areas like California if you finish one, you have to apply for a serial number, pay a fee, and then engrave the finished lower.

The term 80% lower or frame comes from a BATFE determination that it isn’t a firearm if it is only 80% finished. Thus, there is no NICS check on an 80% lower or frame and it can be mailed to you. Given it was a determination by BATFE, you know it can be changed at any time.

Here is an alternative.

You say it is only a chunk of 6061-T6 aluminum. Not so fast. According to the manufacturer, it is the 0% billet AR-15 lower receiver. It helps to have your own CNC machine or a Bridgeport milling machine. I guess you could go all Khyber Pass and finish it strictly with hand tools. Both methods are beyond my level of skill so I’m stuck with off-the-shelf lowers from Aero-Precision, Anderson, or Spikes.

The manufacturer, 80% Arms, adds that they are restricting sale to the USA only.

While these weapons are not regulated under ITAR yet, we still don’t want these dangerous things to get into the hands of the wrong people, like Kim Jong-un. Therefore, shipping of 0% lowers is strictly limited to USA only. 

Well played, sirs, well played.

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Would A Local TV Station Obfuscate GRNC’s Position On 80% Receivers? Duh!

May 25, 2018 by

A volunteer for Grass Roots North Carolina was interviewed by Felicia Bolton of Raleigh’s CBS 17 television station about “ghost guns” for the second part of their two-part story.

If you read what was attributed to Marc Erickson, you’d think GRNC was anti-80% receivers.

Some gun rights advocates like the director of Grass Roots North Carolina Marc Erickson stated these weapons do pose some concerns.

“I represent lawful gun owners. Lawful gun owners don’t have to make their own firearms,” said Marc Erickson.

He also stated that he believes the law should remain the same and the focus should be on prosecuting violent offenders.

“What concerns me is that violent people obtain firearms one way or another and are allowed to pursue their violent actions,” said Erickson.

Of course there is more to the story as the alert from Grass Roots North Carolina below points out. Being quoted out of context or having the meat of your argument edited out is the risk you play when dealing with the media. They want sound bites that make their point. It is why whenever you are being interviewed you should have your own recorder. Even better is to have someone with you taking video of the interview so you won’t be “Couric’ed” as Katie Couric did to the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

From GRNC:

CREATIVE EDITING
OBFUSCATES TRUTH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release date: May 24, 2018

In a heavily edited interview on CBS 17 yesterday, a GRNC volunteer’s remarks were taken out of context to imply that Grass Roots North Carolina opposes the sale of 80% lower receivers. That assertion is false. The position which the reporter avoided relaying was as follows:

“If gun ban advocates are worried about 80% lowers, they should be truly alarmed by the prospect of people using 3-D printers to make guns in their basements, because each underscores the fallacy of gun control; namely, that you can somehow control the behavior of violent individuals by restricting their access to potential implements of mayhem. Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol, it isn’t working for drugs, and it won’t work for guns.”

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In Gun News From The Sub-Polar Region To The North

June 15, 2017 by 5 Comments

The Canadian Firearms Blog is reporting that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Director of Firearm Regulatory Services has decreed that 80% AR lowers are prohibited. The rationale given is that they can be converted into M16 lower receivers. This prohibition also extends to receiver flats for the AK-47/74 and AMD-63/65.

From the memo issued by Robert J. O’Reilly of the RCMP:

Receiver blanks are firearms since they are nearly completed receivers and fall within the adaptability clause of the firearms definition in Section 2 of the Criminal Code. In other words,
a receiver blank is considered a “barrelled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile can be discharged and that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death in a person,
and includes any frame or receiver of such a barrelled weapon and anything that can be adapted for use as a firearm”. As such, they are subject to the firearms-related regulatory and enforcement provisions of the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code, including licensing and registration.

Depending on their properties, receiver blanks can fall into any one of the three firearm classifications: non-restricted, restricted, or prohibited. 

The memo goes on to say that individuals have no legal authority “to possess or acquire prohibited receiver blanks”. The memo contains a table listing many of the most common receiver blanks and their classifications under Canadian firearms law. The only receiver blank that is listed as “non-restricted” are ones for the Ruger 10/22. The rest are either prohibited or restricted.

The Canadian Firearms Blog goes on to report some hearsay evidence behind the RCMP’s decision and the reaction within the Canadian firearms community.

A user on a popular Canadian firearms forum on Reddit, who wished to remain anonymous, has reportedly spoken with RCMP firearms techs in Ottawa, stating they had explained that their interpretation is “so long as the blank (in whatever state it may be in) can be ‘easily’ turned into a firearm, it’s a firearm, and since machining is ‘easy’ that any completion of the receiver is enough.”

This decision by the RCMP has drawn considerable criticism, with some expressing concern that, by the verbiage used in the memo, any unmilled piece of alunimium or polymer in the size or shape of an AR-15 receiver can be affected, and some fearing that this is the foundation to reclassify AR-15s as a whole.

I feel for our Canadian gunny friends. While I have neither the skill nor the inclination to complete an 80% lower, I understand the appeal especially if you live in either Canada or California.  I doubt that they are going to get any relief from these onerous regulations in the immediate future given their respective governing parties.