WASHINGTON, D.C. -(Ammoland.com)- Both chambers of Congress are sending letters to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) demanding answers regarding the ATF secret rule change surrounding privately manufactured silencers.
Over the past two years, the ATF has been cracking down on solvent traps while saying that the agency does not regulate the devices. The ATF recently sent out a mass rejection notice to around 850 Americans who filed a Form 1 for a tax stamp to make an 80% silencer. The regulatory agency claimed that these applicants used kits or parts that the Bureau already considered suppressors.
The ATF has raided several companies for selling cups and freezer plugs with dimples. The Bureau claimed that these markings could be used for drill guides. Some other companies were raided for selling Chinese-made parts. The ATF even showed up at people’s homes that ordered fuel filters off websites like Wish or Alibaba Express.
The denied Americans, in this instance, had their information forwarded to local field offices for further investigation. The ATF could charge the owners with having unregistered silencers for each part. Having an unregistered silencer is a violation of the Nation Firearms Act (NFA). The ATF would most likely just confiscate the parts.
The ATF asked the applicants who were not initially denied to supply high-resolution pictures of each part, the manufacturing technique used to assemble the silencer, and the store or website that the builder used to acquire the parts. These new requirements are a stark change from the ATF only requiring the maker to supply the length and caliber of the planned suppressor.
The Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition (FRAC) helped twenty Republican Senators not only to demand the ATF stop secret rule changes about solvent traps and other kits but for the ATF also to stop rule changes surrounding force reset triggers (FRTs). This letter is the first of two coming out of the Senate destined for the ATF. A second letter covering Form 1 suppressors coming out of the Senate is expected to be unveiled shortly.
ATF Targeting HomeBuilt Silencers
Another letter to the ATF over the secret rule change surrounding homemade suppressors will be sent by the House of Representatives. The letter will be sent from Republican House Judiciary Committee Member Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). The American Suppressor Association (ASA) sent out an alert to its members to encourage their Congressional Representatives to sign the letter to the Bureau and the Department of Justice.
The ASA also is asking Congress to demand that the ATF abide by its previous determinations. Many users built approved Form 1 suppressors using kits that the ATF now considers unregistered suppressors. The ASA is concerned that the ATF could revoke American’s approved tax stamps.
The ASA also wants Congress to pass the Hearing Protection Act (H.R.95/S.2050). The HPA would remove the suppressors from the NFA. If silencers no longer required a tax stamp, it would encourage more people to buy hearing-saving devices. In Europe, with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world, it is considered rude to shoot without a silencer.
AmmoLand News encourages all readers to fill out the ASA’s request to Congress.
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.
Life went on just fine before 4473’s, when you could order through the sears catalog and get your rifle in the mail.
These letters are a start. Then comes threats to funding. Ahh, but that can’t happen since the congress just passed a $1.5 trillion funding bill without reading a god damn page of the thing!
How about the Fraternal Order of Police & police unions, ALL of which push gun control & excuse THE BLUE enforcing unconstitutional laws-orders-decrees? FOP & other BLUE groups are trying to torpedo Permitless “Con Carry” in Ohio.
One of Trump’s betrayals was to nom gun-grabbing ex-FOP Pres Canterbury to head ATF; withdrawn under heavy pressure from gun groups.
https://www.captainsjournal.com/2019/05/28/fraternal-order-of-police-president-chuck-canterbury-picked-to-head-atf/
The headline says both chambers of congress sent letters to the ATF implying democrats were involved in peitioning the ATF to end their secret rule changes. I submit that the ATF is acting on instructions and encouragement from the Communist Biden Regime and their communist comrades in Congress, and that RINO leadership is in bed with congressional conmunists on adding onerous and unconstitutional restrictions to the 2nd Amendment. Letters are ineffective in forcing change. Letters are used like weasel words, and have the same effect in fooling idiots that congress is working on their behalf. The 2nd Amendment has been… Read more »
Thank you, Messrs. Wos and Crump.
I suggest all readers “thoughtfully” introduce this article and video to their local media. The content is “digestible” and “thought provoking” for those who do not understand the broader issues of: “freedom”, “liberty” and “infringement”. …
Don’t overwhelm should you receive a “tell me more response”; “educate” and be “patient”, it will require many conversations over … a period of (time).
Yep, ATF started out as just a section of the IRS, now, look at them.