Category: Goobermint

ATF’s proposed definition of “personal collection” of firearms is missing something

The ATF’s proposed rule expanding who is “engaged in the business” of selling firearms is being lauded by anti-gun groups like Giffords, which says the rule “moves us closer to universal background checks than we’ve ever been,” while the National Shooting Sports Foundation is panning the new proposal as yet another example of executive branch overreach by the Biden administration.

Under the proposed rule, anyone that so much as attempts to sell a privately owned firearm for a profit could be deemed by the ATF to be an unlicensed firearms dealer, even if the sale doesn’t take place or no profit is gained. At the same time, the agency maintains gun owners won’t be deemed “engaged in the business” of selling firearms if they make only “occasional sales to enhance a personal collection, or for a hobby, or if the firearms they sell are all or part of a personal collection.”

While the ATF declined to define “occasional sales”, it has attempted to define the term “personal collection”, and I couldn’t help but laugh and roll my eyes when I saw it.

Personal collection, personal collection of firearms, or personal firearms collection.

(a) Personal firearms that a person accumulates for study, comparison, exhibition, or for a hobby (e.g., noncommercial, recreational activities for personal enjoyment, such as hunting, or skeet, target, or competition shooting). The term shall not include any firearm purchased for the purpose of resale or made with the predominant intent to earn a profit.

Notice anything missing from the reasons why someone would accumulate personal firearms? Yep, the ATF has ignored the single biggest reason why people purchase a gun: self-defense.

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Team Biden Continues Two-Pronged Assault on 2nd Amendment and Small Businesses

Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Ertenzo felt most purposeful when adding a secret fourth bean to his three-bean salad for the annual Cornhole Club picnic.

The commie puppet masters who run Joe Biden’s brain have made no secret of their contempt for the Second Amendment and law-abiding American gun owners. They’ve had their senile mouthpiece babbling about “assault weapons” almost from the moment he was installed in the Oval Office.

Democrats don’t have a lot of luck with sweeping gun control legislation for a couple of reasons. First, they keep passing laws that make gun owners who have adhered to the law criminals overnight. These laws eventually find their way to a judge or a court that says, “Yeah…no.”

The other reason — and this is the big one — is that there are a lot of Democrats who own guns and are fond of their Second Amendment rights. Most of them are in flyover country, which is why a lot of the D.C. Dems are out of touch with reality.

Team Biden is nothing if not relentless in its pursuit of an anti-American agenda, however. Instead of the legislative process, the bureaucracy is being used to choke the life out of the Second Amendment, which Catherine wrote about yesterday:

The Biden administration, failing to get enough congressional cooperation to trample on the Second Amendment, continues its war against gun dealers.

Bingo.

As we examine the story further, it’s important to remember that Democrats have contempt for small business owners. People who can’t be forced into unionizing and stuffing the coffers of the Democratic Big Labor slush fund are useless to them.

Here’s more from Catherine’s post:

I previously wrote about how hundreds of gun dealers suddenly lost their licenses to Biden’s ATF, in what the gun industry says is a back-handed way of undermining gun rights  Some dealers informed the media that the federal government is hurting a major ally in identifying “suspicious gun buyers” by targeting legitimate gun dealers.

But the Biden administration is successfully hurting gun dealers’ business. “We were making $1 million a year, now it’s less than $100,000,” gun dealer Anthony Navarro told the Wall Street Journal. “This policy is designed to be a backdoor violation of the Second Amendment.” Now there’s the new ATF rule, also aimed at gun dealers.

I’m an Arizona resident. Rules regarding private gun sales are practically nonexistent. Both parties have to be Arizona residents and after that, YOLO. The Grand Canyon State has functioned with minimal gun laws for a very long time. My grandfather owned a gun store when I was a kid, so I know whence I speak (write). What the feds want to do now is get their fascist little fingers all over the transactions between individuals, which Ryan Petty explains at our sister site Bearing Arms:

The White House outlined that under the suggested guidelines, individuals would be expected to obtain a federal license and conduct background checks if they meet one or more of several conditions. These include frequently selling firearms shortly after purchasing them, offering guns in near-new condition, selling multiple units of the same gun model, or selling business inventory as a previously federally-licensed dealer without transferring it to a personal collection for at least one year, effectively targeting the so-called fire sale loophole. The proposed rules would establish criteria around the frequency and type of gun sales by unlicensed sellers, along with the condition of the firearms.

The Second Amendment infuriates leftists because the federal government hasn’t been able to wrest control of it from the states. It’s a perfect example of how the country is supposed to work. My good friend, colleague, and “Unwoke” podcast co-host Kevin Downey Jr. once asked me if all of my guns were legal. I replied, “In this state they are.” Were I to move back to California, the story would be different.

The anti-2A crowd is fond of saying, “We don’t want to take away your guns.”

They do, of course, but until they can, they’d like to make the legal acquisition of firearms so onerous that people just give up.

21-and-up gun law to remain blocked as federal lawsuit plays out

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s new law blocking all gun sales to anyone under age 21 remains on hold while a legal challenge continues to play out in court.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners argues the law is a Second Amendment violation and is challenging its constitutionality in federal court.

A judge already blocked the gun-buying restrictions from going into effect in August while the court case plays out. Gov. Jared Polis asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to block that ruling, but the court declined.

“Today, two Obama-appointed judges agreed with us that our plaintiffs do have standing and that our likelihood of success on the merits is strong,” Taylor Rhodes, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, said in part in a statement.

For now, the law will remain blocked until the case is heard in court.

Coloradans under 21 could still buy rifles

While federal law requires buyers to be at least 21 years old to buy a handgun, Coloradans under age 21 can still buy rifles. If upheld, Senate Bill 23-169 would block all gun sales to anyone in Colorado under age 21.

A spokesperson for Polis’ office released a statement after the Tuesday ruling.

“People will remain very confused because of this injunction because since 1968, federal law has required Coloradans to be 21 years old to purchase a pistol, but a loophole allows kids under age 21 to legally buy a rifle instead. This new law approved by the legislature closes that loophole and Governor Polis hopes that the courts agree with him that the law is fully consistent with the Second Amendment and reduces confusion. The Governor is working towards his goal of making Colorado one of the ten safest states in the country and the same age requirements for pistols and rifles would help support responsible gun ownership.”

CONOR CAHILL, PRESS SECRETARY FOR COLORADO GOV. JARED POLIS

The Rocky Mountain Gun Owners lawsuit names two Coloradans plaintiffs in the case, each older than 18 but younger than 21 and who said they want to buy a gun for self-defense.

The gun group’s arguments have hinged on the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

In that case, the court ruled Americans have a right to carry guns in public for self-defense. The case also set a standard that courts must look at history to decide the constitutionality of gun laws.

D.C. to pay $5.1 million settlement after judge finds Second Amendment violations

D.C. will pay $5.1 million as part of a class-action settlement with gun owners who were arrested under laws that have since been found to violate the Second Amendment, according to the settlement agreement.

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U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave preliminary approval to the settlement agreement on Monday following years of litigation. Lamberth had previously ruled in September 2021 that D.C. arrested, jailed, prosecuted and seized guns from six people “based on an unconstitutional set of laws” and violated their Second Amendment rights.

The laws — a ban on carrying handguns outside the home and others that effectively banned nonresidents from carrying guns at all in D.C. — have since been struck down in federal court. They were part of a “gun control regime that completely banned carrying handguns in public,” Lamberth wrote in the 2021 ruling.

Now, D.C. will pay a total of $300,000 to the six plaintiffs and $1.9 million in attorneys fees, with the majority of the rest of the money set aside for more than 3,000 people estimated to qualify for the class-action.

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Tennessee special session comes to an unexpected (and acrimonious) close

After days of finger-pointing and blame-shifting between House and Senate leadership, the special session called by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in response to the Covenant School shootings came to an unexpected end on Tuesday after leaders in both chambers struck a deal. The state Senate, which had closed its committees after passing four pieces of legislation, was the clear winner in the negotiations, with the House approving the bills adopted by the Senate and their counterparts voting to concur with the minor changes made in the House.

24 hours ago it looked like the special session was going to drag on for at least another week after Sen. Jack Johnson postponed a fundraiser scheduled for September 10th because lawmakers cannot raise money while they’re in session. Johnson made it clear that the reason he canceled the original date for his “Boots & Jeans, BBQ & Beans” shindig was the distinct possibility that the session would still be going on next weekend, but once it became clear that the Senate had no interest in hearing any bills beyond the four already approved in the opening days of the session, it looks like House leadership relucantly embraced the inevitable.

The key word there is “reluctantly”, and it looks like there’s still plenty of bad blood between GOP leadership in the two chambers.

The Tennessee House ended its special session to angry cries from protestors, screaming “Vote them out” from the galleries as lawmakers quickly emptied into the halls. The Senate had ended early in the morning.

The House kicked off Tuesday morning with tempers already high after a contentious Monday afternoon session. House Republicans moved to quickly end the floor session, after House Republicans reached an agreement with the Senate to end the special session.

House Republicans had hoped to push through additional bills, which Senate Republicans largely refused to do.

“Unfortunately, we have no additional business to attend to in this particular body,” Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, said. “By the way, I wish we did.”

House business devolved into a back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats, as Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, attempted to bring a vote of no confidence against House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville. Jones was disciplined on Monday afternoon after Sexton ruled him twice out of order, under new House rules.

It was clear days ago that the Senate wasn’t going to pass any more legislation of its own, and after the chamber closed its committees the chances of any additional House bills receiving a vote were roughly the same as Elvis showing up outside of Graceland this afternoon to demand a peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich. House leaders should have recognized reality and gaveled the session to a close last week, but for whatever reason Lamberth and other House leaders kept insisting on running dozens of bills up the flagpole.

With gun control off the table, Democrats and their anti-gun allies were inevitably going to howl in protest during the session and after, and the decision by House leaders to drag the session out into a second week only gave gun control activists and Democrats like Jones a high-profile daily stage in Nashville to bash Republicans and fundraise for their own favored candidates. It was an act of political malpractice for Lee to go forward with his special session knowing full well that the votes weren’t there for his “temporary mental health order of protection,” but that unforced error was compounded when the House insisted on keeping the session going even though it was clear the Senate had no interest in letting the circus continue.

Some of those anti-gun activists are already talking about running stealth candidates in the GOP primary next year, but I’d honestly love to see a legitimate primary challenge to Lamberth and other House leaders who chose to keep the session going days longer than necessary. At the very least Lamberth and those other House leaders owe their constituents an explanation for their inexplicable recalcitrance, and the voters can decide whether or not they should represent them in the statehouse going forward.

 

Kamala Harris Pushes Gun Control That Wouldn’t Have Prevented Jacksonville Shooting

Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to Saturday’s shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, by pushing gun control that would not have prevented the attack.

Harris released a statement Sunday noting the shooting was racially motivated and will be investigated “as a possible hate crime and act of domestic violent extremism.”

She closed her statement by saying, “Every person in every community in America should have the freedom to live safe from gun violence. And Congress must help secure that freedom by banning assault weapons and passing other commonsense gun safety legislation.”

It should be noted that Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters pointed out the shooter was armed with two guns, a Glock pistol and an AR-15 style rifle. If the rifle had been denied him, he would still have had the pistol and the attack would not be hindered.

Additionally, universal background checks constitute another piece of “commonsense gun safety legislation” that Democrats are pushing. But the Jacksonville shooter bought his guns “legally,” which indicates he passed background checks for them at retail.

Moreover, Florida has a red flag law, which is often pushed by Democrats as a way to prevent shootings. But the Washington Post noted Waters saying, “There was no criminal arrest history. There is nothing we could have done to stop [the shooting suspect] from owning a rifle or a handgun. There were no red flags.”

To be frank, our doctors did and were too.

In Wuhan, Doctors Knew The Truth. They Were Told To Keep Quiet.

In the first weeks of 2020, a radiologist at Xinhua Hospital in Wuhan, China, saw looming signs of trouble. He was a native of Wuhan and had 29 years of radiology experience. His job was to take computed tomography (CT) scans, looking at patients’ lungs for signs of infection.

And infections were everywhere. “I have never seen a virus that spreads so quickly,” he told a reporter for the investigative magazine Caixin. “This growth rate is too fast, and it is too scary.”

“The CT machines in the hospital were overloaded every day,” he added. “The machines are exhausted and often crash.”

But this tableau of chaos was hidden from the Chinese people — and the world — in early 2020. Chinese authorities had acknowledged on Dec. 31, 2019, that there were 27 cases of “pneumonia of unknown origin,” and 44 confirmed cases on Jan. 3, 2020. The Wuhan health commission reported 59 cases on Jan. 5, then abruptly reduced the number to 41 on Jan. 11, and claimed there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission or any signs of doctors getting sick.

That claim was a lie. The coronavirus was running rampant. Doctors at the radiologist’s hospital, and other hospitals, were getting sick. But China’s Communist Party leaders prize social stability above all else. They fear any sign of public panic or admission that the ruling party-state is not in control. The authorities in both Wuhan and Beijing kept the situation secret, especially because annual party political meetings were being held in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, from Jan. 6 to Jan. 17.

Secrecy has long been a major tool of the governing Communist Party. It suppresses independent journalism, censors digital news and communications, and withholds vital information from its people. Doctors in Wuhan who knew the truth were afraid to speak out. China did not reveal human transmission of the virus until Jan. 22, and by then, the pandemic had been ignited. In 3½ years, covid-19 has taken nearly 7 million lives by official counts. The true death toll is probably twice or three times that number.

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Gold Star Families Accuse Biden Of Covering Up Evidence That Kabul Bombing Was Preventable

Two years ago, in 2021, a suicide blast ravaged the streets of Kabul’s international airport, killing 13 American service members.

To this day, the families who lost their loved ones feel President Joe Biden has ignored their pleas for answers on the deadly event. Mark Schmitz’s son, Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, was killed in the aftermath of the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. In a statement to Fox News, he expressed his frustration that Biden has refused to answer whether the bomber could have been counteracted before the attack.

“Nothing yet. In fact, I’ve asked for copies of the SD card footage off of his rifle scope. That would have been recorded, and they would have been able to have that as evidence that this was or was not, in fact, the bomber. That card has been ‘misplaced,’ as they say,” Schmitz replied. “So, I don’t know what the truth is anymore. We can’t seem to get a straight answer out of anybody.”

The father accused Biden of withholding crucial information on the attack that led to his son’s death. On a separate occasion, Schmitz criticized Biden for claiming the botched withdrawal was a success, saying the president refuses to take responsibility for his actions that have caused the country to suffer.

“He’ll never learn from his mistakes; he’s proven that time and time again,” Schmitz said. “He doesn’t even accept responsibility for anything he did. I believe he said that what he did was an ‘extraordinary success.’ He’s the exact polar opposite of a leader.”

This weekend marked the second anniversary of the chaotic withdrawal that caused lives to be forever changed. Despite being one of the darkest days in Biden’s presidency, he has failed to uphold his obligations to Gold Star families.

According to the Daily Mail, the families are accusing Biden of ignoring requests to meet them while demanding him to come forward and admit his mistakes in withdrawing from Afghanistan. The mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee said, “One of the hardest parts has really been being ignored largely by the administration and official elected officials.”

The parents of Cpl. Hunter Lopez told the Daily Mail that neither the president nor his administration reached out as they mourned the loss of their child. “I would love to sit down with President Biden and have him outline the successes,” one of the parents told the Daily Mail, adding that she believes the Biden Administration did nothing right that day.

Gold Star families are expected to participate in a roundtable hosted by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX).

New Bill Would Stop VA Bureaucrats From Gaming The System To Grab Veterans’ Guns

A new bill from Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas would keep Biden administration bureaucrats at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from meddling with veterans’ Second Amendment right to buy and own guns.

The legislation, introduced on Friday by Reps. Roy, Eli Crane of Arizona, Lance Gooden of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Andy Harris of Maryland, and Mary Miller of Illinois, specifically bars the VA from sending veterans’ names to the Department of Justice to be added to the federal government’s no-gun list.

Currently, the VA forces any veterans who want to appoint a fiduciary to manage their benefits to risk losing their Second Amendment rights. The expressed purpose of the fiduciary program, according to the VA, is “to protect Veterans and beneficiaries who are unable to manage their VA benefits through the appointment and oversight of a fiduciary.”

At no time during the fiduciary evaluation process does the VA determine if a veteran is a danger to himself or others. Yet, any veteran who is deemed “unable to manage” their benefits on their own by the VA is automatically barred from purchasing or owning firearms or ammunition.

Their names are distributed to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which federal firearm dealers use to determine a person’s eligibility for a gun purchase. There, veterans with fiduciaries are placed in an “adjudicated mental defective” category that indefinitely neuters their Second Amendment rights.

FBI data from 2023 shows that nearly 98 percent of the names placed in the NICS “mental defective” category by federal agencies were handed over to the FBI by the VA.

“You may be fined and/or imprisoned if you knowingly violate this law,” the VA warns.

A memo released by House Veteran Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost notes that the decision to name a fiduciary and disarm veterans is often made by “VA general schedule employees, not a court or similar judicial authority.” There is an appeals process for veterans who want “relief of firearms prohibitions imposed by the law” but whether or not that relief is granted is once again determined by the VA.

The committee estimates that “hundreds of thousands of veterans and their family members have been denied their constitutional right to bear arms” based on the judgment of low-level bureaucrats.

“America’s heroes should never have to fear losing their God-given right to self-defense simply for seeking the care they have earned in the process of protecting our republic,” Roy told The Federalist. “Yet, instead of focusing on securing the border or defeating foreign enemies like China, Democrats are set to take aim at our veterans’ Second Amendment rights. I am proud to take a stand for our veterans with this legislation and to fight to prevent the Biden administration from infringing on their fundamental human rights to bear arms in self-defense.”

John Fetterman’s Wife Lays Out The Future Liberals Want — And It’s The Worst Thing You’ve Ever Seen

Liberals only want one thing … and it’s disgusting.

Alright, well technically it’s three things — but they all fall under the same umbrella of the broader liberal world view.

In her analysis of the GOP debate Thursday evening, Laura Ingraham made a tongue in cheek comparison of Republican and Democrat campaign platforms. “Okay, here’s what the Democrats’ platform is,” she quipped, “pot, porn, Planned Parenthood.”

Liberals in the corporate media and online mocked the comments as orchestrated conservative hysteria making mountains out of a mole hill. They used the typical gas-lighting ploy of “it’s not happening, but it’s good that it is.”

Gisele Fetterman — the activist wife of Sen. John Fetterman who wheeled him across the finish line in Pennsylvania — gave away the game when she responded to the comment, apparently without a hint of irony, to say she’s in.

Of course, liberals love all three things. They are all natural out-growths of the New Left movement of the 1960s. The student hippies who steeped in “free love” and psychedelic drugs grew up to become tenured professors, legal activists, bureaucrats, and government officials — the counterculture of yesterday is now the dominant culture in America.

Liberals today are ideologically obligated to reject the possibility of any downsides to rampant drug use or hyper-sexualization. To reject pot, porn, or Planned Parenthood is to reject individual liberation — the ultimate goal of the modern liberal project.

Any law, norm, or tradition that kept you from pursuing your desires was bad. The powerful used the rules of society to keep the masses in line, while they exploited them at every turn.

The New Left said society must be re-made to help people realize their authentic selves. Narcissistic self-fulfillment was recast as a revolutionary act against an unjust system. Pursuing your desires became the highest — the only — moral good.

If you’re thinking like a liberal, smoking a joint isn’t just like having a beer after work. It’s a way to open your mind — to free your creativity and think about things in new ways. It’s liberating in a way that goes far beyond just being against the government having a say in what you ingest.

The New Left thought pot would liberate the masses from the slog of bourgeois life. Today’s left is banking on the opposite. They know pot makes you fat, lazy, and stupid — and hope that if they give you more of it you won’t notice or care as they destroy the country around you. But still, support would crater if they said this out loud, so they stick to the moral posturing.

The same goes with porn and Planned Parenthood. Sexual rules were designed by straight, white men to keep women under control — how many times have you heard this from a girl with purple hair?

Liberals defend porn as a way for women to reclaim a position of power in the patriarchy. Sure, a handful of women get rich and famous as porn stars, but countless more are trafficked, exploited, and abused. As a generation of young men grows up incapable of understanding sex outside of porn, it’s hard to argue that women are better off.

But in the liberal world view, this harm gets overlooked in the name of liberation. Do any disgusting thing you want for the world to see. If you enjoy it (and consent) no one has any right to stop you. All sexual acts become morally equal when there’s no universal standard to judge them against.

If porn frees women from oppressive norms, abortion frees them from biology itself. The modern woman shouldn’t be constrained by the natural functions of her body. If being a mother stops you from pursuing your desires — being a Girl Boss, drinking on a Tuesday night, or just sleeping around more — then drive on down to your local Planned Parenthood. The obligation to that clump of cells comes second to the obligation to yourself.

But like pot, this now serves to enslave more than liberate.

The cult of abortion worship has convinced millions of women that the best thing they can do is trade marriage and children in for a corner office and some cats. Porn normalizes hook-up culture and promotes sexual dysfunction in men and women. It’s hard to settle down when you’re never satisfied. You become a compliant cog in the liberal machine.

When you have a spouse and children, you think about the future of the country because you have a stake in it. When you’re just worried about your job or your date on Friday, you lose sight of what really matters.

Karl Marx wrote that religion is the opium of the masses. For today’s liberals, it’s just pot, porn, and Planned Parenthood.

Louisiana Man Arrested for Making a Joke About COVID-19 and Zombies Wins Appeal
5th Circuit overrules grant of qualified immunity for officers who made warrantless arrest

NEW ORLEANS—During the COVID-19 pandemic Waylon Bailey made a joke about the virus, zombies, and his local sheriff’s department on Facebook. Today, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that Waylon’s joke was protected by the First Amendment and that deputies violated his free-speech rights and his Fourth Amendment rights when they arrested him. Waylon teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to appeal a lower court decision that granted qualified immunity to the detective and sheriff responsible for his arrest.

“I’m relieved that the court recognized that the deputies were wrong to arrest me for making a joke on Facebook,” said Waylon. “I’m glad that I will be able to hold the detective and sheriff accountable, and hopefully my case will stand as a strong statement to officers about what the First Amendment protects.”

Judge Dana M. Douglas, writing for the unanimous panel, said that: “The First Amendment’s protections apply to jokes, parodies, satire, and the like, whether clever or in poor taste.”

“The court’s opinion makes clear that the First Amendment applies with full force to online speech,” said IJ Attorney Ben Field. “Government officials can’t get away with stretching criminal laws to go after people who make jokes at their expense. This is a victory for free speech and common sense and against the pernicious doctrine of qualified immunity.”

Waylon Bailey’s March 2020 Facebook post used over-the-top language, emoji, and a hashtag referencing the Brad Pitt movie World War Z in facetiously warning that the local sheriff’s office had been ordered to shoot the “infected.” Despite the obvious indications that it was a joke, sheriff’s deputies decided to arrest Waylon, without a warrant, under an anti-terrorism law and sent a SWAT team with guns drawn to his garage.

Waylon was taken to jail and booked, though the absurd charge was dropped when a prosecutor reviewed the case. But when Waylon brought a civil-rights lawsuit, the deputy responsible for the arrest was granted qualified immunity by the district court. To add insult to injury, the court also said that Waylon didn’t have any free speech rights to make a joke in the first place. The 5th Circuit reversed and remanded to the district court, which will now fully consider Waylon’s civil-rights lawsuit.

“Any reasonable officer would have known that Waylon’s zombie joke was clearly protected by the First Amendment, and certainly wasn’t ‘terrorizing,’” said IJ Attorney Caroline Grace Brothers. “By denying qualified immunity to the detective who arrested Waylon, this decision confirms that government officials should not escape accountability when it should have been obvious that their actions were unconstitutional.”

ATF Has NO Authority To Change Rules & Definitions Of Guns Without Congressional Approval

The Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a challenge of the “Final Rule” issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives redefining frames and receivers as firearms, have filed an appellee’s brief in the case, known as VanDerStok v. Garland.

The brief explains how ATF redefined the term “firearm” without any Congressional action. Last year, the agency announced a Rule expanding the definition of a firearm to include unfinished firearm components and kits used in the process of manufacturing a firearm. SAF and its partners are asserting ATF violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).

A federal district court judge agreed and concluded that ATF had acted in excess of its statutory authority and granted summary judgment.

SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb recently promised the organization will pursue this case “vigorously” as it winds through the court system.

“This case challenges the authority of the ATF to change rules and definitions of firearms without Congressional authority,” Gottlieb said. “We simply cannot allow any federal agency to make up its own rules as it goes along, without Congressional approval.”

SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said the foundation “expects to prevail on the portions of the Final Rule that we challenged.”

“The district court entered a judgment deeming the Rule illegal and vacating it,” Kraut said, “and we are asking the Fifth Circuit to affirm the district court’s decision to issue relief based on the APA. By promulgating the Rule, ATF has appropriated authority reserved for Congress. Such a usurpation of power is antithetical to our system of government and must be stopped.”

They’re coming for your guns

Leftist politicians rarely tell the truth. Their policies and ideals are so bad that they can’t, and they know it, thus the nonstop hyperbole, grandstanding, and projection. It’s infuriating that so many Americans either are unable to see this, thanks in part to a complicit MSM, or so blinded by their ideology that they choose to ignore the fact that they get endlessly played by those they keep electing.

As with any good totalitarian leftist regime, gun confiscation is at the top of the leftist wish list. It’s much easier to institute control and compliance over an unarmed citizenry than it is an armed one. They may deny it, but deep down, this is what they want. All you have to do is watch and listen to them.

You hear them use code words like “military-grade weapons” and “red flag laws.” Even our leftist administrative state is getting in on the action, as the ATF is now targeting gun dealers by denying more and more of their business licenses. It probably won’t be long until this administration starts mandating that banks curtail any financial dealings with gun manufacturers and dealers, just as it has with the fossil fuel industry. House bills are already written to pin blame on gun manufacturers for gun-related crimes. Once instituted, there is no way those business can survive the legal onslaught that would come their way. Leftists may not be able to repeal the 2nd Amendment, yet, but they can sure regulate their way around it.

This leftist playbook was recently revealed by progressive St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones. Under her leadership, the city recently passed Bill 29, which repealed the city’s open carry law, but that wasn’t enough for her. Now she’s proposing more “commonsense gun legislation,” including but not limited to red flag laws, background checks, banning “military-grade” weapons, and prohibiting insurrectionists and those convicted of hate crimes from owning guns.

While I find red flag laws deeply concerning, as they blatantly infringe upon an individual’s right to bear arms simply via another’s accusation, the last two in the list really set the alarm bells off. Of course, Mayor Jones didn’t specifically say what constitutes a “military-grade weapon,” and I’m not going to put words into her mouth, but any time the government looks to limit something, it’s only getting started. Military-grade weapons, or “weapons of war,” is an extremely vague term that can mean whatever the government wants it to mean, which is exactly how the government wants it. All these people need to do is to open that door and stick their foot in it, and then, over time they’ll be able to step right through.

This brings me to Jones’s most disturbing statement: “prohibiting insurrectionists and those convicted of hate crimes” from owning guns. We’ve already seen how loose our federal government is when it comes to labeling citizens as “insurrectionists.” Would local leftist leaders be at all different? Of course not.

In fact, let’s take this a step farther. With our federal Justice Department labeling concerned parents voicing opinions at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists,” what would stop local authorities from targeting them as well? Or the fact that certain crimes against certain “oppressed” or “victim” groups, as determined by the administrative state, constitutes forgoing your 2nd Amendment rights, too? This is nothing but blatant political weaponization against “enemies” in the guise of “commonsense” gun laws, with the government picking and choosing the winners and losers. In the 17th century, they were called “witch hunts.”

The fact that Mayor Jones used the word “insurrectionists” was no accident. On the surface, who would argue with disarming insurrectionists, right? But to the left, “insurrectionists” refers to anybody leftists disagree with, as well as other code words like “fascists,” “MAGA,” and “terrorists.” This is the semantic word game that leftists love to play. They’ll pass laws that, on their surface, may appear sensible and provide a good sound bite, just for them to then use these laws to cudgel their opposition, while giving free passes to those who support them.

We all have to vehemently resist leftists’ assault on the 2nd Amendment, for there is absolutely no question as to what their end game is: the disarmament of the populace and the persecution of their adversaries.