The Supreme Court has upheld the ATF’s “frame or receiver” rule.
During the Biden ‘administration’ ATF ruled that “80%” receivers were to be treated and regulated just like they were fully finished guns.
The were sued and it went all the way to SCOTUS.
Justices Alito and Thomas were the only ones to dissent. All the others agreed. Regard the fate of future decisions accordingly.
Gun maker closes up shop in N.J., taking 146 jobs with it to the Midwest
Gun manufacturer Henry Repeating Arms says it is making a strategic move to relocate its operations out of New Jersey and into the Midwest, according to a statement released by the company.
The manufacturer will close its Bayonne operations and move jobs to its newly expanded headquarters in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. It will also move jobs to two additional facilities in nearby Ladysmith, Wisconsin.
The closure affects 146 workers at the Bayonne operation according to WARN notices filed March 13. Henry employs more than 800 people, according to its website.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, Henry’s New Jersey facility manufactured 35,069 firearms in 2022. This included 25,012 rifles, 1,433 shotguns, and 8,624 handguns.
The company said in the statement that the move out of New Jersey accommodates the need for increased production capacity and better supports the company’s future growth driven by innovative firearms design.
“We are putting all of our eggs in one basket, the Wisconsin basket, because it makes us more efficient, more productive, and allows for more collaboration amongst our design and engineering teams, all while sustaining and enhancing Henry’s solid reputation for quality,” said Anthony Imperato, Founder and CEO of Henry Repeating Arms.
“With about 400,000 square feet of cutting-edge manufacturing operations in four facilities within minutes of each other, Henry Repeating Arms is well positioned for its next chapter.”
Andrew Wickstrom, president of Henry Repeating Arms, said the new phase will help the company grow.
“This transition allows us to double down on what we do best — making world-class rifles, shotguns, and revolvers right here in the heart of America,” said Wickstrom. “Our Wisconsin operations have been essential to our success for a long time, and now it is the cornerstone of our bright future.”
Actually I think the other nations that want to use the Suez canal and Red Sea for commerce should be upping their patrolling too
I don’t know, perhaps you could ask the captains of all these ships how they feel about the endless attacks on our shipping. Perhaps you could ask all the allied nations that no longer use the Suez Canal to transport goods because of the endless Houthi attacks. pic.twitter.com/Wuoim3REwS
— Military Arms (@MAC_Arms) March 16, 2025
Lawmakers Pushing Commerce Secretary To Dump Biden Admin’s Gun Export Restriction.
A group of 88 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are pushing to have the Biden Administration rule restricting firearm exports by law-abiding American manufacturers reversed, and they want it done now.
On March 7, the lawmakers, led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tennessee, sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requesting reversal of the policy, which was part of the Biden Administration’s weaponized attack on gun owners, gun sellers and gun makers.
“As soon as is practically possible, we respectfully request that you rescind the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) recent interim final rule (IFR) ‘Revision of Firearms License Requirements,” the letter stated. “This misguided and destructive IFR is costing the American firearms industry nearly $500 million annually while doing nothing to advance U.S. interests or regional stability. Despite numerous attempts to rein in these actions through letters, legislation, hearings, markups and oversight, the Biden BIS ignored Congress and used the IFR to advance the Biden administration’s anti-firearms agenda.”
The letter also referenced President Donald Trump’s recent executive order instructing new Attorney General Pam Bondi to review all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements and other actions of executive departments and agencies that violate the Second Amendment or furthered the Biden administration’s anti-firearms agenda.
“Section (2)(b)(vii) of the executive order specifically requires the review and remediation of any agency action regarding the ‘processing of applications, to make, manufacture, transfer or export firearms.’ Because this IFR stops the commercial export of firearms, ammunition and related components to over 36 countries and severely limits the ability of American businesses to obtain export licenses, we believe this IFR ought to be addressed immediately.”
For his part, Sen. Lee said now is the time to act to get this onerous restriction off the books.
Trump Kills an Intrusive Housing Rule, Again
This past week, Scott Turner, President Trump’s new secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced that HUD would be terminating the notoriously intrusive Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. By attaching strings to billions of dollars in community development block grants from HUD, AFFH gives the feds the ability to control zoning regulations and many other aspects of local government.
AFFH severely undermines our federalist system, not only by expanding central control but by turning suburban municipalities into helpless satellites of neighboring urban centers. Over and above engineering residential patterns by race, ethnicity, English proficiency, country of origin, and more, AFFH is designed to urbanize suburbs — forcing dense development to cluster around public transit hubs with the goal of coercing suburbanites out of their cars.
Supposedly, AFFH carries out provisions of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. In reality, the rule is classic regulatory activism. It reads contemporary policy goals back into a law that mandated no such thing. AFFH, for example, slyly imposes a principle of “economic integration” on the suburbs, although nowhere does U.S. law recognize or demand economic integration.
In sum, AFFH is a systematic attack on America’s suburbs, an attempt to undercut their economic and political independence, urbanize them, and ultimately to absorb them into their greater metropolitan regions as if they never existed to begin with. The rule was the brainchild and longtime dream of President Obama’s Alinskyite community organizing mentors, who hated the suburbs, dismissed them as products of racism and greed, and blamed them for urban decay. AFFH is federal overreach on stilts, very arguably the most radical policy initiative of Obama’s presidency. Truly, the rule was designed to fundamentally transform the United States of America.
Thanks to President Trump, AFFH failed to do so. Trump, in fact, has uprooted AFFH twice. He killed off the Obama version in 2020, while running for reelection. Now Trump has moved to terminate the only very slightly revised Biden version of AFFH.
Senators Send Letter Urging Repeal of Biden-era Rule Damaging the Firearms Industry
On March 5th U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick urging him to rescind an interim final rule (IFR) that the Biden Administration promulgated in an effort to hamstring the domestic firearms industry.
In October 2023, President Biden ordered a 90 day “pause” on firearm exports licenses issued by the Department of Commerce.
This order was in lock-step with other actions taken by the Biden Administration to hinder the U.S. domestic firearms industry in any way possible. And unsurprisingly, at the end of this “pause” the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an IFR in April 2024. This IFR placed much tighter restrictions on semi-automatic firearms exports, listed dozens of countries as “high risk” countries which would be subject to a “presumption of denial” for export permits, removed a “presumption of approval” for licenses to many countries that had helped to expedite the process previously, and a number of other restrictions. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an organization that represents firearms manufacturers, stated that this decision would cost the industry nearly $500 million annually.
Mexico’s Frivolous Lawsuit: What SCOTUS Got Wrong About the Firearm Industry
Predicting how the U.S. Supreme Court might rule on a particular petition is risky business. Most legal analyses of the Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos hearing this week are leaning in one direction – that the Court is likely to reject Mexico’s claims and ultimately dismiss their frivolous $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. firearm manufacturers.
After all, there’s no evidence to support their claim. Mexico can’t show the court how a lawfully-made and lawfully-sold gun that is illegally straw purchased, illegally smuggled across an international border, illegally possessed in Mexico and criminally misused by narco-terrorist drug cartels is the responsibility of U.S. gun makers. There was discussion among the justices and the lawyers about legal concepts and terms like “proximate cause,” “foreseeability” and “aiding and abetting,” but the simple understanding is that the justices seemed skeptical that they should accept that U.S. firearm manufacturers should be on the hook legally because they might foresee that someone, somewhere and years from when a gun is made, could criminally misuse that gun to cause harm that requires the government of Mexico to spend money in response. That’s the part that gives common sense and sanity a fighting chance in this case.
Some of the justices’ questions demonstrated that they did not all seem to fully understand how the industry legally conducts business. Here are a couple of examples.
BLUF
It looks like we did very well. Justice ‘Squish’ Roberts signaled he’s not in favor of assault weapons bans. And even Justices Jackson and Sotomayor didn’t seem to be convinced of Mexico’s argument.
SCOTUS Oral Argument Transcript: S&W v. Mexico
23-1141_09m1
2,322,106 NICS background checks for February…..
Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc. v. Garland
Document #60 District Court, D. North Dakota
BLUF
Guns firing both a cartridge and a shotgun shell are deemed non-NFA firearms. Franklin Armory made the Antithesis, a gun that shoots both .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun shells. ATF said it was an SBR. FRAC sued and the court sided with them.
The Schools Reviving Shop Class Offer a Hedge Against the AI Future
Hands-on skills are staging a comeback at leading-edge districts, driven by high college costs and demand for more career choices
The NRA needs a reset. Let’s bring it back to what matters: protecting the Second Amendment and defending our rights. Be the change. pic.twitter.com/BdK3VOXLXG
— Daniel Defense (@DanielDefense) February 21, 2025
NYT Obliterates the Myth That Planned Parenthood Is About Anything Other than Abortion
Once in a while, the mainstream media does something useful — even if it’s just saying the quiet part out loud.
I came across a New York Times piece from earlier this month that makes some startling revelations about one of the left’s biggest sacred cows: Planned Parenthood. Reporter Katie Benner begins her piece by telling the story of a woman who went to Planned Parenthood for an abortion.
The single mother still experienced bleeding and cramps after the procedure, so she returned to Planned Parenthood, where clinicians told her that she was fine and that nothing was wrong. She later delivered a stillborn baby at 12 weeks. It’s a heartbreaking account, but it’s also a worthwhile springboard to Planned Parenthood’s failures.
Benner reports:
Planned Parenthood is synonymous with the fight to preserve abortion rights. But it is also the health care provider of last resort to millions of the poorest Americans. Its clinics offer cancer screenings, birth control, annual gynecological exams, and prenatal care, regardless of whether patients can afford to pay. The organization is unique in its reach, one of the few health care providers with a presence in all 50 states.
But a New York Times review of clinic documents and legal filings, as well as interviews with more than 50 current and former Planned Parenthood executives, consultants, and medical staff members, found that some clinics are so short of cash that care has suffered. Many operate with aging equipment and poorly trained staff, as turnover has increased because of rock-bottom salaries. Patient counts have shrunk from a high of five million and 900 clinics in the 1990s to 2.1 million patients and 600 clinics today.
Planned Parenthood has massively fundraised off the Dobbs decision in 2022, to the tune of nearly $500 million that year alone. However, the organization’s bylaws require that the vast majority of that money go toward lobbying for baby-killing. Thus, the functions of Planned Parenthood that genuinely help people go underfunded or totally unfunded.
Benner points out that much of the funding for healthcare at Planned Parenthood clinics comes from Medicaid, and that varies from state to state. To be fair, the disjointed nature of state funding hurts the healthcare side of the organization.
However, another one of the left’s sacred cows is at odds with this part of Planned Parenthood’s mission. Obamacare is giving poor women more options for healthcare, which means that fewer of them go to these clinics for procedures other than abortion.
Clinics are running out of money for healthcare options, so they’re running out of supplies, failing to properly keep up facilities, and laying off staff. But can you guess which aspect of Planned Parenthood thrives? You guessed it: abortion.
“There are bright spots, especially in areas of the country that support abortion rights,” Benner reports. It’s tremendously sad to see the phrases “bright spots” and “abortion rights” in the same sentence.
She continues:
Planned Parenthood in Illinois recently opened an 11,200 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Carbondale, a few hours drive from the borders of Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, which have banned or severely restricted abortion. The affiliate boosted salaries for staff and improved benefit packages as it prepared to welcome women from nearby states who were seeking abortions.
An affiliate in Ohio made substantial upgrades to an abortion clinic, and clinics in Southern New England have kept wait times low.
In conservative media, we often use the clickbait phrase “saying the quiet part out loud” in headlines. In this case, the New York Times did just that.
In lamenting Planned Parenthood’s trouble with healthcare funding, Benner reveals that the organization is keeping the main thing the main thing and focusing on abortion. That has always been Planned Parenthood’s primary mission and always will be — regardless of how hard the left tries to push the myth that Planned Parenthood is all about healthcare.
Gov. Rhoden Signs Pro-Second Amendment Bill into Law
Gov. Rhoden Signs Pro-Second Amendment Bill into Law
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden signed SB 81, which prohibits the use of a firearms code for transactions involving firearms, accessories, components, and ammunition and to provide a civil penalty therefor.
“I am proud to protect our Second Amendment rights with the signing of this bill,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “South Dakota has seen strong growth of our firearm industry, and this bill will help that continue. I am grateful that both the bankers and the firearm industry came together on this issue.”
A private signing ceremony was held this morning and included representatives from South Dakota’s growing firearms industry, South Dakota’s banking industry, the National Rifle Association, and prime sponsors of the bill. You can find a picture of Governor Rhoden signing SB 81 here.
Governor Rhoden has signed 35 bills into law this legislative session.
BLUF
In the unlikely event Mexico’s case is not dismissed, President Sheinbaum would do well to remember that discovery in civil litigation in America goes both ways
Trump Designating Cartels Terrorists Isn’t ‘Worrisome’ To Lawful U.S. Gun Manufacturers
The assertion that U.S. firearm manufacturers ‘sell arms to criminals’ is a flat-out lie.
President Donald Trump’s State Department has officially designated several murderous drug cartels, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13, as foreign terrorist organizations. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Juan Pablo Spinetto labeled that decision “worrying” while attempting to argue against the president’s move.
Never mind the thousands of lives lost every year to drug cartel violence in both Mexico and the United States. Pay no attention to the more than 250,000 American deaths since 2018 from illegal drug use by fentanyl smuggled into the United States from Mexico across a virtually open Biden-era border. Disregard that after four years of woeful inaction by an American president barely at the steering wheel, the new Trump administration is following through with the campaign promises he made to the American people to protect them from such violence. Spinetto has other concerns.
While describing to readers why, in his determination, President Trump’s move forward to label Mexican narco-terrorist drug cartels as international terrorist organizations would be “worrisome,” Spinetto takes an uninformed and bogus potshot at the lawful and highly-regulated U.S. firearm industry.
“The proposal to treat cartels as terrorists … adds significant collateral risks: Anyone who has contacts with narcos, knowingly or not, could be accused of collaborating with terrorists, from avocado producers in Michoacán that pay to stay alive to the US gun industry that has been selling arms to criminals,” Spinetto writes. The assertion that U.S. firearm manufacturers “sell arms to criminals” is a flat-out lie.
Mexico, of course, has no Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for its citizens and the one and only firearm retailer in the country is in the heart of Mexico City, located on a military base. Firearms legally exported from the United States to the Mexican military have gone through rigorous and thorough end-to-end security checks, attempting to ensure that American-made guns do not fall into the hands of anyone else, especially the cartels.
After all, there are documented reports of Mexican soldiers defecting to work for narco-terrorist drug cartels, bringing with them over 150,000 firearms stolen from Mexican armories. Virtually all of the firearms used by the Mexican drug cartels, on the other hand, are illicitly possessed illegal arms unlawfully smuggled into Mexico by a network of drug cartels, through theft or straight-up government corruption. These facts are well known. Spinetto knows all of this too, of course, but the facts are inconvenient for his argument.
‘Second Amendment Summer’ tax holiday on guns and ammo in DeSantis’ proposed budget
DeSantis unveiled his proposed $115.6 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year during a news conference in Tallahassee on Monday
A new sales-tax “holiday” on guns and ammunition is one of several included in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new proposed state budget.
DeSantis unveiled his proposed $115.6 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year during a news conference in Tallahassee on Monday.
The budget includes a number of temporary tax savings, or “holidays,” that the governor’s office says will provide around $296 million in temporary tax savings.
Many of the tax holidays are returning after they were included in previous budgets.
But among the new ones is the “Second Amendment Summer” sales-tax holiday, which would run between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
The measure would temporarily remove sales taxes on ammunition, firearms and related items and would save shoppers an estimated $8 million, according to the governor’s office.
“We are unveiling the ‘Second Amendment Summer’ tax holiday, so from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, you can get your ammunition, your firearms, and your accoutrements tax free in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said Monday.
Another new savings measure in the budget is a “Marine Fuel” tax holiday. That two-month holiday would provide a 29.5 cents per gallon reduction of the motor fuel taxes levied on commonly used boat fuels, saving boaters $27 million, the governor’s office said.
Among the measures returning would be the 14-day “Back-to-School” sales tax holiday that exempts certain school supplies, clothing, computers and other items ahead of the start of the school year.
Here’s what you can get tax-free during Florida’s back-to-school sales tax holiday. As the calendar inches closer to the start of a new school year, parents are busy helping their children get ready by stocking up on school supplies. NBC6’s Kris Anderson has more on Florida’s back-to-school tax holiday.
A pair of “Disaster Preparedness” sales tax holidays are also included, which apply to certain supplies at the start and height of hurricane season.
Also returning would be a 7-day “Tool Time” sales tax holiday on certain power tools and equipment used by skilled trade workers.
A “Freedom Month” sales tax holiday would also return in July, which includes boating, fishing and camping supplies like pool toys, tents, and even kayaks. Outdoor supplies such as grills and bicycles will also be tax-free.
Trump nominee will review Biden restrictions on firearms exports
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Commerce Department said on Monday he will review the Biden administration’s year-old restrictions on firearms exports that were aimed at limiting foreign criminal groups acquiring U.S. guns.
Nominee Howard Lutnick said in written comments that if confirmed he would “ensure the department reviews this policy and takes appropriate action.”
After a temporary export pause on firearms exports in 2023, the Biden administration in April 2024 imposed restrictions on sales to non-governmental users in 36 countries where the State Department determined the firearms were at high risk of diversion.
At the time, the Commerce Department forecast the restrictions would reduce average annual U.S. firearms exports by 7% or $40 million.
Lutnick was responding to a question from Senator Eric Schmitt who said the policy “cost U.S. manufacturers and exporters hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”
An industry association estimated in 2023 that the sales loss would be $238 million a year.
Then-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the rules would limit diversions of guns to drug cartels, criminal groups, gangs and others. “The days of exporting military-style weapons to civilians in unstable countries are over,” Raimondo said.
The Senate Commerce Committee will vote on Lutnick’s nomination on Wednesday.
GOP Senators Introduce Bill Prohibiting Gov’t. Contracts with Anti-2A Groups
A group of 22 Republican U.S. Senators have signed onto legislation which weeks to prohibit the federal government from using taxpayer money to enter into contracts with known anti-Second Amendment corporations.
Led by Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the group is sponsoring the Firearm Industry Non-Discrimination (FIND) Act.
According to an announcement from Daines’ office, he is joined by Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
In a statement released to the press, Daines explained, “Democrats and woke corporations have proven over and over again that they want to carry out an unconstitutional, overreaching gun-grabbing agenda, and under no circumstances should our federal government use taxpayer dollars for these efforts. Doing business with anti-Second Amendment corporations erodes Americans’ trust and infringes on law-abiding citizens’ Constitutional rights. It must stop.”
One of the most infuriating and alarming moves by the Biden-Harris administration was the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, staffed by people from the gun control movement. This office should immediately disappear when Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President Jan. 20.
Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, announced support for the measure.
“This legislation is critical to ensuring ‘woke’ corporations don’t use their financial might, funded by taxpayers, to deny essential services to the firearm industry,” Keane said. “Corporations, in particular financial institutions, have been dictating public policies from boardrooms that throttle firearm businesses, which are Constitutionally protected. This bill will no longer allow those corporations to benefit from taxpayer dollars while at the same time using those funds to deny Americans their Second Amendment rights. We thank Senator Daines for his leadership to ensure fairness in business, reasserting Congress’s role in ensuring the federal government isn’t picking winners and losers in the marketplace based on politics, and protecting the ability of a lawful industry to compete for services without artificial and agenda-driven barriers.”
Daines introduced the seven-page bill twice before, explaining that the FIND Act “ensures that corporations cannot benefit from taxpayer-funded contracts and subcontracts while discriminating against firearm trade associations or businesses that deal in firearms, ammunition, or related products.”
