Before they ban all the guns, they must redefine what a gun is.
A couple of years back, the anti-gunners were all sheeting themselves about “ghost guns.” At some point, someone must have sat them down and (with the help of some crayons and a number of flow charts) explained that there’s no such thing as ghosts. Specifically, someone must have explained that an 80% lower isn’t defined by the ATF as a firearm, and that making your own AR-15 from an unfinished lower is perfectly legal. This is when they turned their lifeless, doll-like eyes towards receiver blanks in a new federal case. The Second Amendment Foundation is already fighting back, at the root of the problem: What is a gun? The SAF’s update is below.
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The Second Amendment Foundation today filed an amicus brief in a federal case that is trying to force the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to define certain firearms components as “firearms.”
“Forcing ATF to adopt the new approach to classification of certain gun components that the plaintiffs in this case are demanding would greatly expand ATF authority beyond the 1968 Gun Control Act,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “If their effort succeeds, it would violate rights protected by the Second Amendment by imposing restrictions on otherwise lawful Second Amendment activity excluded from the GCA.”
Consistent with congressional intent under the GCA, ATF long ago determined that unfinished frame and receiver blanks without any machine work or indexing have not yet reached a stage of manufacture in which they are classified as firearm frames or receivers under the GCA. Various special interests are now challenging ATF’s interpretation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case is known as City of Syracuse, NY et al v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives et al.
The lawsuit was filed last year by the Cities of Syracuse, N.Y., San Jose, Calif., Chicago, Ill., and Columbia, S.C. along with the billionaire-backed Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. In addition to ATF as an agency, defendants include Acting ATF director Regina Lombardo in her official capacity, plus the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General.
At issue are such things as frame blanks or partially-manufactured frames for firearms, also commonly known as “80% frames” or “unfinished receivers.”
The issues in this case can have unprecedented ramifications on the rights of SAF members. SAF’s intimate knowledge of the ATF interpretations at issue, the Second Amendment implications of the interpretations, and SAF’s quantitative assessment of the administrative record will provide a unique perspective and helpful insight to the Court in resolving these issues.
“Building your own firearms is a long-standing tradition in this country, from the earliest days of the Republic to the present day,” Gottlieb explained. “There are adequate existing laws and regulations covering this time-honored activity, which the gun prohibition lobby and its allies in municipal governments around the country now wish to restrict, if not entirely destroy. We simply cannot stand by and allow this to happen.”
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What is a gun? Is it an unfinished lower receiver? A firing pin? It’s a radical question, but an important one, because the truth of the matter is that you can make an AK-47 out of a shovel (like this guy did). How far will the anti-gunners go before they realize that, and what will they do when they figure it out (with the help of a very patient interpreter, a gross of crayons, and a series of flow charts, of course)?
Smitty says
The more we educate the left on terms they do not understand the more we weaponize them to use those terms against us. Face it folks. Educating them is not going to somehow magically make the left more gun friendly. Their ultimate goal is to disarm the people in order to contorl them. It’s too late for a political solution to the problem. They will not stop until they get their way. We have got to get out of the “denial stage” of our addiciton to politics. The left quit fighting by the Marquess of Queensbury Rules 60 years ago.
kurzninja says
So if they can file a case to try to get the ATF to recognize something that’s not a gun as a gun in defiance of all logic, why is it so hard for someone else to file a case to get the ATF to recognize that something that isn’t a firearm…. isn’t a firearm, shouldn’t be regulated as such, should have never been regulated as such, and had absolutely zero justification to be regulated as such when the NFA was passed? And by that, I mean simple tubes with baffles and zero moving parts, commonly known as a suppressor. Liberals and anti-gunners are always comparing America’s gun laws to other countries’ laws except in the case of suppressors which are mostly completely unregulated and in many cases even required for activities such as hunting.
First Freedom says
Heck, it is legal to buy a suppressor, over the counter, in Russia! For crying out loud…
StLPro2A says
“Before they ban all the guns, they must redefine what a gun is.” No they don’t. As with the ATF, they will know it when they see it. If they have it, it’s not a gun. If you have it, they will know it is a gun.
Fed Up says
Watch the new administration try to sneak all kind of anti-gun legislation in. Support your SAF and other groups fighting for our 2nd amendment rights!
Stephen says
Excuse me but…
If the firearm is incomplete, how are you going to fire it? Hence, it is not a gun or firearm, it is just parts. What are you going to do, throw the parts at someone and hope you bruise them? This is nothing more than trying to backdoor the 2nd amendment which is total B.S.!
Big Al 45 says
Lets go with the U.S. Army’s definition of a “Gun”. Because it wouldn’t even include ‘small arms’. LOL!!!!!
randy bauer says
If I’m not mistaken, an unfinished receiver that you personally finish MUST have your name/address on it, and a serial number is appreciated by the ATF. If a firearm is built without doing this it is already illegal. How much more illegal can they be made to be? Illegal is just that.
Dee says
Not true, unless you intend to sell it at a later date. If you keep it for your use, there is no such Federal requirement….. and don’t be giving them any ideas.
Gunrunner says
You are mistaken, at least by Federal Laws! it’s possible that there are local or State definitions to support your assumption, but, not for the rest of US…
cjackson11566 says
One of the botuque channels (I think it was National Geographic) showed how people in India could take a decommissioned/purchase ship and turn it into handguns.