Washington, D.C. -(Ammoland.com)- After tens of thousands of comments left by gun owners over the ATF’s proposed guidance over pistol braces, the agency pulled it from the National Registry.
The agency released the proposal and gave the public two weeks to respond. Many in the gun world believed that the ATF chose to release the document right before the Christmas holiday, hoping that the gun community wouldn’t notice it until it was too late. The American people did notice. Every firearms publication ran non stop coverage of the confusing and nonsensical proposal. YouTubers of all sizes encouraged people to write comments to the government about the new guidance.
One YouTube channel that ran a marathon live stream reading submitted comments was Gunwebsites. During the live streams, the channel’s owner, Pete, gave viewers tips on submitting official comments and could see what other people wrote. He hosted panels of gun-rights advocates that discussed what to write and what not to write.
“I did it so people could see what the comments were like, a random sample of what was being posted five days into what we thought would be a rough ‘ask’ over Christmas,” Pete told AmmoLand. “If you watched, it knocked me on my ass how amazing they all were.”
“Going into it, of course, I assumed we’d find an assortment of the ‘shall not be infringed’ along with the paid-for Bloomberg ‘thanks for doing this,’ but instead, with my random sample, all I found was eloquent, well-thought-out reasoned insightful instructions to our government employees.”
Even the politicians got involved in rebuking the ATF’s power play. North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson and 89 other Congress members signed a letter urging the ATF to reverse course on the disastrous move. Together they urged the ATF to “correct this injustice” and not infringe on American’s rights.
Every gun-rights group took the fight to the ATF.
Emails went flying out to members of Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and even the National Rifle Association. GOA and FPC fired up their legal machines to prepare to sue over the letter. For the first time in a long time, all the gun-rights groups seemed to be on the same page and presented a united front against tyranny.
“This is a great victory,” Gun Owners of America’s Senior Vice President, Erich Pratt, told AmmoLand News, “And I am thankful for all the gun owners who issued their stinging rebukes to the ATF, to the many pro-gun journalists and YouTubers who helped sound the alarm, and to the 90 members of Congress who sent an opposition letter to the ATF. Gun owners will have to stay vigilant and watch these ATF bureaucrats closely. But for now, this is a wonderful early Christmas present.”
Even companies that aren’t gun-related took to social media to encourage their customers to write comments. Defender Coffee is a coffee company that recognized the right to keep and bear arms so much so that all profits are donated to pro-gun groups. They changed the links in their social media platforms to point to the registry where customers could post their comments about the ATF’s move.
Overall it was a victory, but we can not let our guard down now.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Read the last sentence of withdrawal letter. This is not a reversal as they are clearly stating that the retain the “right” to prosecute braced pistols as SBRs.
A victory – YES.
But they did not concede, just withdrew their proposal of offering “free” registration.
ATF is law enforcement stuck with enforcing fundamentally flawed laws. We can expect little logic in their approach to do so. Perhaps we can harness this enthusiasm toward improving NFA. Elimination remains the goal, but getting SBS and SBR delisted is far more achievable – for now.
IF all the energy that was utilized was steered towards delisting the SBS and SBR’s, who knows? MAYBE THEY WOULD BE DELISTED!! I mean how stinking stupid are these shenanigans anyhow? The length of a pistol or shotgun shouldn’t even be in conversations that have to do with laws and penalties.
All I see is they backed off on the notice and request for comments. That isn’t much of a victory. That just means they stopped listening and don’t give a damn about our opinions and we don’t get a notice. A victory would be them going away and having to find real jobs.
Good estimate.
Call me cynical but I believe they simply chose a subject that would bring out the bulk of the pro gun voters to see how, through technology we would react. With this reaction now implement they will find ways to shut down this kind of pro-gun reaction in the future to quench our voices on each of the future attacks.
Who knows? “They” live to control people. We need them like we need a brain tumor.
Feigned Retreat:
A feigned retreat is a tactic whereby an opposing force pretends to withdraw or to have been routed, in order to lure their enemy into a position of complacent vulnerability.
This position was seen as negative to the Georgia Senate race, after January 6th it will be on again
Hey ATF…make your life really simple. Take SBRs, SBSs and sound supressors off the table. Or do you just consider going after people who don’t pay a $200 “tax” stamp job security? Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to just hang around the office and watch porn videos on government computers? Better yet, all of you go and get honest jobs like the majority of Americans. One where you’re not a glorified welfare recipient.
Yes. Anything that has to do with the size and loudness of a firearm/firearm accessory should not be regulated. The absurdity of the rules, interpretation of the rules, application of the rules, and enforcement of the rules has shown this over and over again.
A person who commits the most inconsequential of violations is liable to receive more attention from the government and more penalties than a terrorist who takes over a police headquarters building, burns-down businesses, beats store owners, and terrorizes motorists.
That’s because as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
said: first they made crimes against the government of every effect, but crimes against the people of no effect.” The result being that the people cried for more PROTECTION from the very system that was PERSECUTING THEM!
There is no worse crime than disrespecting government authority. This plays out every day in many ways.
@CL – They are law enforcement, stuck trying to enforce nonsensical laws totally 7 suited to today’s reality. Maybe if we enlist their help to reform gun control we can get somewhere with reasonable and enforceable laws which won’t trigger civil unrest. First step should be to throw out NFA and GCA. If that is not achievable, just delist SBS, SBR and suppressors. Despite difficulties BATFE has had in figuring it out, machine guns are actually pretty easy to identify. Surely when no blood runs in the streets, we’d gain some ammo to continue toward freedom. Personally I’d rather people… Read more »
Personally I don’t care what people use. Their ammo is their ammo and if they can afford to run a machine gun for FUN and not murder, they have the right. But I do think you are right about the part about SBRs SBSs and suppressors. That has got to go FIRST. I always see life from a different perspective then most folks. If the government can have it, why can’t we? If we can afford it, it should be our right up and to the possession of pretty much anything as long is it isn’t USED CRIMINALLY! To rob,… Read more »
Every chat forum, not only gun related but political ones covered this,too. Emails and texts from gun owners to gun owners. Memes. Word of mouth.
They backed off for now. Key words , “for now”. In the Biden/Harris administration, they will come back strong.
I am going go drink my non-sponsored coffee now….
Stand firm as a united front, let’s put aside our negative feelings towards any of the originations that are supporters of our Second amendment rights and face our enemy that is trying to limit our Constitutional rights and God given rights. Demand of our representatives in Congress to uphold the constitution as written or suffer the consequences of election. Last but not least, as the old saying goes we need to put our money where our mouth is in support of those organizations who are on the front lines of this fight.
Funny how you can put two opposing ideas in the same sentence. 2nd amendment “rights’ and “Constitutional rights” vs GOD GIVEN RIGHTS. I have GOD GIVEN rights. I don’t have 2nd amendment OR constitutional “rights”. The very thought of my “rights” being determined by what is written on some document is repugnant to me.
Wanna’ get rid of this rogue agency? DEFUND THE BATFE!!!
If only everyone would have shown this much support for the bumpstocks.. That magic wave of hand of unlawful rule has set the precedence to allow the powers that be to do almost whatever they want.
I’m genuinely shocked that big tech didn’t censor all of the replies against the ATFs most recent shenanigans. I can guaran-damn-tee you our voices from the RIGHT will continue to be censored by the communist social media mob. In their eyes, not agreeing with the leftist agenda still = racist hate speech.
A small victory is still victory. I’d like to be in Bloomturd office right now. It would be like the Monkey House in Springt8me!
I’d like to be in Bloomturds office right now taking my right hand and smashing the front of his nose back into his brain.
Someone must like Bloomturd! LOL!
Every federal employee, as a condition of employment, by law, takes an oath, the most critical part of which is to “…support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” In light of that oath, how anyone could work for the firearms part of ATF is completely beyond me. The alcohol and tobacco parts are at least debatable. The “F” part of that organization exists solely to violate the Second Amendment rights of the people. With “friends” like that, the Constitution doesn’t need enemies. I think that even accepting a job offer there indicates that one is unfit… Read more »
Good now lets roll this small victory into a larger one and shift the momentum towards their recent actions with 80%….
They were just testing the waters. Once slo mo senile joe takes office we will see the onslaught begin on all fronts. Be forewarned.
We The People must adopt a “Come And Take it” ” “Don’t Tread On Me” lifestyle instead of just saying it with bumper stickers and flags on a wall, hidden in a gun room. And part of that is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to illegally funded, unaccountable, murderous, thug operations like BATFE. They need to just go away, along with their ever growing budgets, letters of the alphabet, and pretended legislation. It is hardly time to stop. This article talks about legislators getting involved in this regarding a single policy. Make them put their money where their… Read more »
PS,
They weren’t tricked, they went along with the law and trusted in the goodness of people and the benevolence of the government. Then, the vast majority of them refused to learn from the results.
As many still have today.
Help Prevent Banks From Discriminating Against The Gun Industry. Please Comment only 11 days left.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/25/2020-26067/fair-access-to-financial-services
They will be back… They will wait for next year, and likely after January, but they will be back.
This victory aside, the overall situation should be taken by brace manufacturers as advice to make better, more use specific arm braces.
Or for the gooberment psychopathic control freaks to simply get rid of the ATF and the so called “laws” they enforce. I used one of these at the range one day the way they are “supposed” to be used out of curiosity. It makes for a very awkward platform that made me feel like I had a robo cop appendage. Using them with three points of contact makes them ACCURATE and SAFE. Wouldn’t you think that the gooberment would want us to be ACCURATE and SAFE with our weapons? Hell no, they want us to spray and pray like Robo… Read more »
One of the things I was JUST thinking was , wouldn’t it be great if we could all have MRE guns..After all the NRA says we should use our guns to attack our government right ??? And any safety law…Safety laws are baaaadddddd……..
Not over by a long shot… note the comment” pending further department of justice review” the election on the 6th of Jan will determine this outcome in the future..
Yeah they “backed down” anyone in the military will tell you strategic retreat. They are going to come back raining wholly hell down with Artillery to soften us up before they attack for real. This is no longer we Will not comply, this should be WE DEFY!
We won this time, but the fight is far from over. With Biden and Harris in the WH, and all the Liberals in Congress who want to turn the USA into the old Soviet Union that failed, we will be fighting for years to come. No retreat, no surrender.
So where does it stand with Q, their Honey Badgers, and their customers?
Near as I can see it stands right here: Shall Not Be Infringed
How is it that a pipsqueak organization like the BATFE is allowed to choose what’s against the law and what’s constitutionally guaranteed? Perhaps it’s time to revisit BATFE functions and perhaps the need for it. Nobody likes the BATFE and it has been kicked around for almost 50 years — since its founding. It began in the Department of Treasury and moved to Justice then back to Treasury and down to IRS. The IRS finally kicked it out and when the FBI rejected it, BATFE became a separate bureau under DOJ again. Since the federal government duplicates most of what… Read more »
They are allowed to create regulations with the force of law because both Democrat and Republican politicians want them to do so. The Democrat politicians are elected because their constituency wants these regulations. The Republican politicians encourage/allow these regulations because they know their constituency will tolerate them doing things contrary to their campaign promises. In fact, many who voted for them will attempt to shout-down people who point out the broken campaign promises of Republican politicians. There is a retired police officer that posts on this forum who believes everyone should comply with: Regulations regarding braced pistols Federal laws requiring… Read more »