Category: Gun Schtuff

US Halts Exports Of Most Civilian Firearms And Ammunition For 90 Days

Now the US has halted the exports of a lot of civilian firearms and ammunition for a total of 90 days citing national security. It has been claimed that the halts are going to cover most of the guns and ammunition that can be purchased in the United States gun store. This news has been officially claimed by Johanna Reeves who is a lawyer who specializes in export controls and firearms with the law firm Reeves and Dola in Washington, D.C. This is a very shocking announcement which has been made by a lawyer. Now to know everything that the lawyer has shared with us, read this entire article without missing anything.

According to the Commerce Department, the United States has officially stopped issuing export licenses for most civilian firearms and ammunition for a total of 90 days for all non-government users. Commerce Department officially claimed this statement on 27th October 2023, Friday, citing national security and foreign policy interests. The Commerce Department (CD) has not given more details regarding the pause as it also includes shotguns and optical sights. However, the CD has claimed that the review is going to assess the risk of the firearms that are being diverted to the activities and entities that have promoted regional instability, fueled criminal activities, and violated human rights.

On Friday, The Commerce Department declined to give any statement on the posting on its website. A famous lawyer who specializes in export control and firearms with the law firm Reeves and Dola in Washington, D.C., Johanna Reeves has officially given a statement in which she has claimed that the halt covers most of the ammunition and funds that can be purchased from the United States gun stores. She has also claimed that she has never seen the Commerce Department taking a sweeping action like this. They might have some individual country policies but there is nothing like this.

According to the experts, the license exports for Israel Ukraine, and some other close allies are going to be exempted from the temporary halt in the exports. The US companies that sell the firearms are Strum Ruger & Co., Vista Outdoor, and Smith & Wesson Brands they might face a big impact because of the ban on exports. The exporters can submit, the license requests at the time of the pause but the requests are going to be held without the action till the pause is lifted.

This is Federal, CCI, and Remington ammo.

Vista Outdoor to sell sporting products unit in $1.91 bln deal, cuts sales forecast

Oct 16 (Reuters) – Vista Outdoor (VSTO.N) said on Monday it would sell its sporting products business in a $1.91 billion deal, although its shares tumbled about 20% in early trading after it cut its full-year sales forecast.

The all-cash sale of the sporting products unit, which includes its guns and ammunition business, to privately held Czechoslovak Group a.s. (CSG) is expected to close next calendar year, Vista Outdoor said.

The outdoor recreation and shooting sports products maker also lowered its fiscal 2024 revenue forecast, citing tight consumer spending on its big-ticket discretionary goods in the face of higher interest rates.

“The reduction in sales from our previous guidance coupled with pricing and promotional pressures across our categories is driving down profitability,” said Vista’s CFO Andy Keegan.

Vista now expects revenue to range between $2.73 billion and $2.86 billion for the year ending March 2024, compared with its previous forecast of $2.85 billion to $2.95 billion.

Earlier this month, Vista spun off its outdoor products segment, which includes helmets and water bottles, into a separate publicly traded company called Revelyst as part of its previously announced plan.

Vista said in a call with analysts and investors that the separation of its sporting and outdoor goods units will be formalized at the closing of its deal with CSG.

Czech-based CSG has seen its revenue and profits rise since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as demand for heavy military equipment and ammunition to ship to Ukraine soared.

It had a consolidated revenue of 25 billion Czech crowns ($1.07 billion) in 2022 and has been on the lookout for more acquisitions since it took a 70% stake in Italian small-calibre ammunition maker Fiocchi Munizioni last December.

CSG said it plans to take $1.11 billion of debt financing to fund the deal with Vista Outdoor.

Reports: Army’s Lake City Ammunition Plant Cancels Commercial Ammunition Contracts

Last year we reported that Susan Rice the Biden administration, as part of its unrelenting war on guns and those who own them, was moving to cut off civilian sales of ammunition produced at the Army’s Lake City ammunition plant in Independence, Missouri. Lake City cranks out as much as 30% of the commercial .223/5.56 ammunition sold in this country.

As the NSSF remarked at the time . . .

This policy to deny the sale of excess ammunition not only would freeze over 30 percent of the 5.56 mm/.223 caliber ammunition used by law-abiding gun owners, it risks the ammunition industry’s ability to surge production capacity for national defense if the costs to maintain the present workforce isn’t recouped through sales to the civilian market.

While we couldn’t get Winchester (who operates the plant under contract with the Army) to comment on the situation, the report was well-sourced by those with direct knowledge of what was happening at the time. We obviously were on to something because the White House went so far as issuing a non-denial denial of the report.

A good measure of how real the threat by the administration was at the time might have been that 50 members of Congress issued a call to the administration to walk back the policy. The BidenBots apparently concluded at the time that the anti-gun juice wasn’t worth the political squeeze and Lake City continued producing for the civilian market.

However, we started hearing from a number of people late this week that Lake City had moved to cancel all of its commercial contracts. We’ve also been told that distributor supplies of .223/5.56 had begun to be drained, as a result of the move by Lake City and in anticipation of higher civilian ammunition demand following last week’s terrorist attacks in Israel. Then Staple Defense published this report.

Lake City typically sells off its excess capacity ammo, over and above the military’s needs,  to keep its operations fully running and employees on the payroll. If, as it appears, these latest reports are accurate, the reason this time may have less due to the administration’s desire to jack up domestic ammo costs (thus sticking it to civilian gun owners) than it is to anticipation by the US military that its needs may be increasing in the very near future.

Given U.S. support for Ukraine, a new war breaking out in Israel, and other potential points of instability, the Lake City move may portend more bad things in the offing. And one of them may be scarcer, more expensive ammo for your AR-15.

Watch this space.

Woman killed in explosion at Hornady plant west of Grand Island

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) – One woman died and two men were injured Friday morning in an explosion at a Hornady Manufacturing plant west of Grand Island.

Hall County Attorney Marty Klein said the explosion happened in a chemical compound building at the Hornady plant at 8350 West Old Potash Highway, a Wood River address. That site is about four miles northwest of Alda on the site of the old Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant.

Klein did not identify the victims, but did say that one of the men showed symptoms of a concussion and the other showed symptoms related to breathing dust and fumes. Klein said neither of the injuries to the men were considered life-threatening.

Klein said the Hall County Sheriff’s office and the State Fire Marshal were on the scene early Friday afternoon to continue investigating the explosion.

Crews from at least four local fire departments were called to the scene just before 10 a.m. Friday.

Hall County Emergency Manager Jon Rosenlund confirms that Cairo, Wood River, Alda and Grand Island Rural Fire Departments as well as the Hall County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene. A Grand Island fire department ambulance was also dispatched.

A Local4 reporter on the scene reported that the property had been blocked off

Hornady Manufacturing is a long-time Grand Island business which makes bullets and ammunition.
Local4 contacted Hornady Manufacturing for comment and we are awaiting a response.

Biden Signs Law Restoring Funding to Hunter Safety Programs in Schools

Congress and President Joe Biden have undone a mess of their own making.

On Friday, Biden signed the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act into law. Congress passed the law nearly unanimously. The legislation restores funding for school hunting and archery training courses.

“The benefits of hunter education and archery programs should be fully recognized as these classes teach future generations the important skills of public safety, confidence, and comradery,” Representative Richard Hudson (R., N.C.), who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

The law amends 2022’s Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) to clarify that grants from the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act can be spent on hunting and archery programs. The overwhelming bipartisan support for funding firearms and archery training in schools demonstrates, at least, that the floor of support for hunting remains pretty high in American politics.

The law stems from a dispute in the BSCA’s language about whether federal funds can be spent on weapons training. In April, the Department of Education published an official guide that said it couldn’t spend money on programs that provide “to any person a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.” Federal law specifically labels any object capable of “causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2½ inches in length” as a dangerous weapon.

In August, the Education Department told Fox21 it considered hunting, archery, and sports shooting programs ineligible for funding under the statutory language.

The Department’s interpretation of the BSCA was condemned by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including many who’d voted for the bill. 18 Senators, including eight Democrats and an Independent, sent a letter to the Department in September arguing they never intended the funding language to be interpreted that way. They demanded funding for school hunting and archery programs be reinstated.

“The intent of section 13401 of BSCA was to preclude these funds from being used to purchase dangerous weapons for school staff or to train school staff in the use of dangerous weapons, with the recognition that ESEA funds should support student achievement, educational enrichment programs, and student well-being,” they wrote. “Other federal funds appropriated in the BSCA were intended to support evidence-based school safety and protective measures.”

Another bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee asking them to create a legislative fix if the Department didn’t change its mind. Between the two letters, the effort garnered support from a dozen Democrats, nine Republicans, and an Independent.

Representative Hudson, who called the Department’s interpretation of the language an “attempt to push their radical agenda on our children,” introduced his legislative fix in the House. That bill quickly gained bipartisan support and passed by a vote of 424 to 1. The Senate agreed to it unanimously. Now, President Biden has signed it into law.

“[T]he President supports a legislative solution to ensure ESEA funding can be used for valuable school enrichment programs, such as hunter safety and archery,” Stefanie Feldman, Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, tweeted after the House took up the bill.

Smith & Wesson says goodbye to Massachusetts, hello to Tennessee
Bay State known to have some of the country’s strictest gun laws

Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson hosted a grand opening of its new Tennessee headquarters Saturday after moving from its longtime home in Massachusetts to a more gun-friendly state.

The company built a new 650,000-square feet headquarters in Maryville, Tennessee, as part of a $125 million relocation plan announced in 2021. Tours were offered at the new facility on Saturday.

The gunmaker had been located in Springfield, Massachusetts, since the mid-19th century, but company officials have said legislative proposals in that state would prohibit them from manufacturing certain weapons. Massachusetts is known to have some of the country’s strictest gun laws.

Smith & Wesson President and CEO Mark Smith spoke at the event Saturday, which drew a large crowd to the new facility, The Daily Times reported.

“From where I stand, the next 170 years of Smith & Wesson are looking pretty good,” Smith said. “It is something special here in Tennessee.”

He cited a welcoming regulatory environment and close collaboration with the Tennessee state government as a crucial piece of the plan to relocate. The company has said the new facility would create hundreds of jobs.

Tennessee has moved to loosen gun restrictions in recent years under Republican leadership. In 2021, the state passed a law to allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without a permit that requires first clearing a state-level background check and training.

High gun sales: 50 consecutive months of 1 million purchases

There were more than 1 million gun sales last month, making for the 50th straight month of those kinds of numbers.

The FBI recorded more than 2 million background checks last month. The National Shooting Sports Foundation says the number translates into more than 1.1 million firearms sold.

Some are pointing to concerns about government gun control, but foundation spokesman Mark Oliva points to growing violent crime as encouraging those purchases. Firearm experts say that personal safety concerns are now driving demand, as more women and minorities are purchasing guns for this purpose.

For example, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked at gunpoint in Washington, D.C., this week. Cuellar said, “the message is very simple, you gotta support law enforcement.”

Meanwhile, Oliva says the attack is “a reminder why Americans continue to choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Karn v. U.S. State Department found that computer code is protected speech. But this judge decided that, because cad files can communicate with the machines directly, they are not protected…really.

Ahhhh. So does that mean ASCII files are no longer free speech after some judge realizes they can be sent directly to an inkjet printer?

These old, activist judges will learn quickly that you can’t stop the signal.

Federal Judge Rules Gun CAD Files are Not Protected Speech

A federal judge in New Jersey ruled that computer code that lets someone produce firearms is not protected speech under the First Amendment.

In the case, Defense Distributed v. Platkin, Federal District Court Judge Michael A. Shipp dismissed the lawsuit that Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation ( SAF) brought against New Jersey’s law banning the sharing of gun computer-aided design files (CAD). Even before the law was passed, New Jersey issued a cease-and-desist letter to the company in early 2018, demanding it stop publishing firearms information that New Jersey residents could access. Defense Distributed has been posting CAD files on its Def Cad website that allow users to print firearms using 3D printers. New Jersey claimed publishing these files broke the state’s public nuisance and negligence laws.

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BATFE BANS Non-Lethal Training Ammunition For Civilian Use

BATFE GOOSE-STEPPING ON OUR RIGHTS (AGAIN)

Shared via Instagram by Aaron Cowan of Sage Dynamics, a UTM memo detailing how the BATFE has ordered UTM to stop selling their non-lethal training ammo (NLTA) to anyone other than law enforcement and the military. RECOIL has confirmed this directly with UTM.

How and why the BATFE feels they have this authority to decide law-abiding civilians can’t have NLTA arbitrarily is a mystery to us at this time.

UTM’s NLTA is imported from the UK and thus might be subject to “sporting use” importation laws. Likewise, Simunitions are imported from Canada and might get the same order from the BATFE if they haven’t already.

We spoke with Simunitions but they declined to comment.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

We know force-on-force training isn’t something most of us do every weekend. The fact is, most of us never do it in our lives. That said, it is extremely useful training that should be available to every legal firearm owner.

This is another example of the BATFE using its made-up power to invent de facto laws and regulations to suppress Americans’ right to bear arms. Training and access to ammunition are central to our Second Amendment rights.

Beyond that, this ban is simply an absurd federal overstep since non-lethal training ammunition is non-lethal. No one is being protected by this ban. No one is being saved. This is purely about the BATFE and the executive branch as a whole furthering their crusade of civilian disarmament.

High gun sales tracking crime surge, ‘fearful’ arming for fight.

After 50 straight months of gun sales over 1 million, the driver of the historic trend appears to be shifting from concerns about government gun control to personal safety, according to firearms experts.

The FBI this week said that Americans continued to buy guns in huge numbers. The agency recorded 2,035,410 background checks in September and an industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said that translates into sales of over 1.1 million firearms.

New gun buyers continue to drive sales, and included in that group are women and minorities concerned about safety. They are different from many past buyers who were worried that liberal politicians would ban some gun sales, experts said.

And, they added, with the growth of violent crime and social media’s focus on it, there appears to be no end in sight for high gun purchases as Americans consider fighting back.

Self-protection was highlighted by two experts in two recent crimes. The latest was the armed carjacking last night of a Texas congressman in a heavily trafficked area of Washington, D.C. The other was a Virginia jury’s acquittal of a food delivery worker who shot a social media prankster after feeling threatened.

“The despicable and violent attack on Congressman Henry Cuellar serves as a reminder why Americans continue to choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Crime rates are unabated and criminals prey on innocent Americans without consequence,” said Mark Oliva, spokesman for the NSSF.

“Americans are choosing a different path. By the millions for 50 months straight, law-abiding citizens are choosing their right to keep and bear arms, despite the efforts of gun control politicians to enact laws to chill that right and others that issue unconstitutional edicts that deny that right. Lawful firearm possession is truly the determining factor of the American character — that we are a people of self-determination and not left to be victims of those who have no respect for life or law,” he added.

Justin Anderson, the marketing director at Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, said crime is a big driver.

“Higher crime rates traditionally create more demand for firearms,” he said.

“In our space, concealed carry classes are selling out at our range, and we’ve actually added more classes to keep pace with demand. Though crime hasn’t necessarily risen in our area, social media and the 24-hour news cycle is regularly showing criminals emboldened by liberal policing policies committing crimes that affect law-abiding citizens. This creates fear and fearful people are arming themselves in record numbers,” added Anderson, whose store is one of the nation’s largest gun sellers.

But, said Anderson, while carrying a weapon may make Americans feel more secure, that they have to arm up is a sign of a larger societal problem.

“While we appreciate the bump in business, we’re also looking at the degradation in our culture and we’re fearful of where this is going,” Anderson said.

GOV. NOEM INVITES CALIFORNIA GUN MANUFACTURERS TO MOVE TO SD

PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem invited California gun manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners to move to South Dakota to escape California’s gun and ammunition tax , which Governor Gavin Newsom signed as the first such tax in the country.

“Why would anyone want to live in a state where your Second Amendment rights are infringed?” said Governor Noem. “South Dakota has been setting the standard as the most Second-Amendment friendly state in the nation for years. Our firearms industry is thriving. Unlike Governor Newsom, South Dakota respects our God-riven rights. So if you are a California gun manufacturer or law-abiding gun owner, we are ready to help you make the move!”

South Dakota’s firearms industry has a total economic impact of $400 million. The state has the second-highest number of registered weapons per 100,000 residents of any state in the nation – this is over three times the nation average and seven times that of California. South Dakota’s concentration of employment in the firearms industry is also 77% higher than the national average and 177% higher than California’s.

Silencer Central has grown from being a local business with a small office space in Sioux Falls to having a national footprint. The gun shop now employs 165 team members and sold more than 100,000 silencers in 42 states last year. They opened their new 47,500-square-foot corporate office in Sioux Falls last June and have grown their staff from 17 to 175, including 120 onsite in Sioux Falls.

Cole-TAC relocated from New Hampshire to the Black Hills, bringing with it 40 jobs. Cole-TAC manufactures tactical accessories, include suppressor covers, ammo storage, hunting gear, and a variety or shooting accessories.

The first bill that Governor Noem ever signed into law guarantees Constitutional Carry for all law-abiding South Dakotans. South Dakota was also the first state to not charge a fee for a concealed carry permit, and it is one of the strongest states for “Stand Your Ground” laws.

State and local governments in South Dakota cannot use an emergency declaration as an excuse to infringe on Second Amendment rights. And, in April, Governor Noem signed an Executive Order blocking state agencies from contracting with large banks that engage in discrimination against firearm-related industries.

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is equipped to help those interested in moving to South Dakota. You can find more information through Governor Noem’s “Freedom Works Here” website.

New Injunctions Issued Against ATF’s Frames and Receivers Rule

On Friday [14th], Federal District Court Judge Reed O’Connor reissued preliminary injunctions against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) from enforcing the Final Rule (FINAL RULE 2021R-05F) on frames and receivers against two companies.

The two companies protected against the ATF’s rule are Defense Distributed, makers of the Ghost Gunner, and Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, Inc., d/b/a 80 Percent Arms. The Texas-based case is Vanderstok v. Garland and has been at the center of the fight over incomplete frames and receivers for a little over a year.

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‘Busiest day I’ve had in months’: Guns flying off shelves in Albuquerque after gov’s anti-2A move

It would appear that New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order banning the carrying of firearms in Alburquerque has had an unintended consequence: Sales in the city’s gun stores are booming.

ABQ Guns owner Arnie Gallegos told The Epoch Times, “Today was the busiest day I’ve had in months.”

“I’ve been getting a lot of people who have never come into a gun shop before who are rightfully concerned about their freedoms,” Gallegos added. “A lot of people are saying, ‘I can’t rely on the police anymore, and I need to be able to protect myself.’”

As BizPac Review reported, last week, Lujan Grisham declared that firearms could not be carried in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County for a minimum of at least 30 days in response to several recent shootings that left children as young as five and eleven dead.

“The recent shooting deaths of a thirteen-year-old girl on July 28, a five-year-old girl on August 14, and an eleven-year-old boy on September 6, as well as two mass shootings this year spurred the governor to declare gun violence a public health emergency on Thursday,” her office said in a press release.

According to the order, “no person, other than a law enforcement officer or licensed security officer, shall possess a firearm … either openly or concealed, within cities or counties averaging 1,000 or more violent crimes per 100,000 residents per year since 2021.”

The move sparked immediate backlash, even from those within her own party.

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All the other ‘smith degrees offered by schools are 2 year associates

Oklahoma school to offer nation’s first bachelor’s in gunsmithing

State officials could have a new weapon in their arsenal as they try to lure gun and ammunition manufacturers to Oklahoma.

Murray State College leaders say the school’s gunsmithing program could become a huge economic development driver thanks to a $10 million legislative investment that will allow the college to offer the nation’s first bachelor’s degree in gunsmithing.

With backing from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, campus officials approached lawmakers in the spring with a pitch that expanding the school’s gunsmithing program to offer four-year degrees could turn Oklahoma into a hub for gun businesses and manufacturing.

“The idea was this is an investment in an industry that can locate in our state, and regionally, we have the ability distribution-wise to become a powerhouse in this,” Murray State College President Tim Faltyn said in an interview.

Although the funding measure passed overwhelmingly, some lawmakers questioned the new investment in a college that’s located in the district of House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

‘Major shift toward embracing modern technology’

Murray State College has offered a gunsmithing program since 1979. Annually, the school admits 30 students to its two-year degree program at its Tishomingo campus.

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Court issues injunction on forced reset triggers case

Forced reset triggers do one thing. As soon as you fire the gun, it forces the trigger to reset so you can follow up with another shot very quickly.

Some people seem to think that being able to shoot quickly is a bad thing.

Unfortunately, some of those people apparently work at the ATF and now Rare Breed, a company that makes forced reset triggers, is dealing with the agency in court.

Also, unfortunately, their case had a setback on Tuesday.

The U.S. government on Tuesday won a court injunction blocking a firearms company from selling after-market triggers that let gun enthusiasts convert AR-15 style rifles into weapons that can shoot as fast as machine guns.

U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison in Brooklyn said the Department of Justice was likely to prove that the “forced-reset triggers” sold by Rare Breed Triggers LLC and its owners were illegal machine guns under federal law.

The government said rifles equipped with Rare Breed’s FRT-15 triggers were capable of firing faster than military-grade M-16 machine guns, which can fire at least 700 rounds a minute.

In a 129-page decision, Morrison said the defendants defrauded customers by saying its FRT-15s were “absolutely” legal, despite having failed to win Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approval for their sale.

She also highlighted alleged efforts by Fargo, North Dakota-based Rare Breed to obstruct the government from tracking and confiscating the devices, including by destroying sales records and using fake names on packages sent through the mail.

“Defendants declined to seek ATF classification of the FRT-15 and instead simply assure RBT’s customers that the device was ‘legal’ precisely because they knew that allowing ATF to examine their device before bringing it to market might kill their proverbial golden goose,” the judge wrote.

Morrison, a Biden appointee, seems to simply assume that the ATF is right here, that making a gun shoot faster somehow makes it a machine gun.

One would think, however, that a federal judge would at least look up the definition of a machine gun in federal law.

From the National Firearms Act:

(b) Machinegun. The term ‘machinegun’ means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. 

The term shall also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.

Here’s the thing, though. Forced reset triggers don’t fire multiple rounds with a single pull of the trigger. It simply allows one to pull the trigger much faster.

Morrison seemingly claims that because the forced reset triggers allow one to shoot as fast as a machine gun, it should be regulated as such, but the law makes no such case.

In other words, she’s taking the ATF’s made-up crap as actual law and saying the government would likely win the case based on that made-up crap.

I fail to see how she can say such a thing, though. I’m not an attorney, mind you, but it seems rather bizarre to argue that the government will win on a case where they claim a device turns a rifle into a machine gun when the device does nothing to change the weapon in any way that meets the legal definition of a machine gun.

Then again, as a Biden appointee, it’s unlikely that Morrison is really that concerned with the actual law when it comes to restricting what ordinary Americans can own with regard to firearms and accessories.