Free Republic

NASHVILLE - The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has told Tennessee gun dealers to disregard a state statute that exempts firearms made and sold inside Tennessee from federal gun laws and registration. The ATF says the federal laws still apply regardless of the state's move. The Tennessee legislature considered and approved several bills this year to reduce restrictions on firearms, including one bill that its sponsors labeled the "Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act." It passed overwhelmingly, the House 87-1 and the Senate 22-7, despite warnings by some lawmakers that it could subject Tennessee citizens to federal prosecution and...

On Monday, we asked if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could be reformed, citing companion bills in the Senate and House backed by the National Rifle Association that promise to roll back certain restrictions and moderate penalties for minor violations. Yesterday, we examined a campaign created by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Their bottom line: "Boot the BATFE." No doubt many will consider this an unrealistic goal, and deem the likelihood of generating enough support to make it happen remote without revolutionary changes from the way government exerts control now. That doesn't mean it shouldn't...

Attorney David T. Hardy sums it up nicely: The courtroom equivalent of "the dog ate my homework. Five times."... The prosecutor is trying to dodge and weave on why certain important documents were not disclosed to the defense, despite a court order, and neither the judge nor the defense attorney is giving him an inch of slack.

WALLINGFORD - A usually quiet mobile home park was shaken Friday morning when about 15 officers from the U.S. bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police descended on one of their neighbor's homes with force. "They had their guns drawn and were surrounding the house," said Jennifer Monroe Lynne Boynton, of 15 Hosford Bridge Road, went to her husband's truck for coffee money at about 6 a.m. and was pushed to the driveway and handcuffed with an officer's knee in her back and a gun to her head. ATF officers surrounded her father-in-law's home at Western Sands...

The several states are lining up to reclaim their sovereignty and telling the federal government to butt out. This is being done in myriad ways but all are related in that most claim that the Tenth Amendment protects the states from federal tyranny. States are passing resolutions, memorials and two states have passed laws and they intend to apply those laws for their citizens. The two states are Montana and Tennessee. It was expected that at some point these laws would be challenged and it appears actions to do such has begun. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...

The Obama administration is raising the stakes in a fight over states' rights and firearm ownership by arguing that new pro-gun laws in Montana and Tennessee are invalid. In the last few months, a grass-roots, federalist revolt against Washington, D.C. has begun to spread through states that are home to politically active gun owners. Montana and Tennessee have enacted state laws saying that federal rules do not apply to firearms manufactured entirely within the state, and similar bills are pending in Texas, Alaska, Minnesota, and South Carolina. Yet the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives now claims that...

On Friday, we saw the letter ATF sent to FFL dealers in Tennessee telling them the Bureau was overriding the state's Firearms Freedom Act, and would continue to impose federal requirements in disregard of state law.

A line was drawn in the sand last week - a response by the Federal Government to the State of Tennessee and their assertion of sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Part of a series of moves by states seeking to utilize the Tenth Amendment as a limit on Federal Power, the Tennessee State Senate approved Senate Bill 1610, the Tennesse Firearms Freedom Act, by a vote of 22-7. It previously passed the House by a vote of 87-1. The law states that “federal laws and regulations do not apply to personal firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition...

The ATF - as expected - has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power (as seems to be the trend since the late 1930) and has notified Tennessee’s federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists. We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority…

Friday, June 19, 2009 NRA-ILA has recently received several calls from NRA members in border states who have been visited or called by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In some cases, agents have asked to enter these people's homes, and requested serial numbers of all firearms the members possess. In each case, the agents were making inquiries based on the number of firearms these NRA members had recently bought, and in some cases the agents said they were asking because the members had bought types of guns that are frequently recovered in Mexico. This kind...

Absolutely remarkable. A 51 year-old man lives with his father in a trailer. Thirty-four years ago - as a minor - the man was arrested with a friend that had forged a check. That made him a "former felon." His father collects guns. The dozen or so guns are secured in a safe. With search warrant in hand, "15 officers from the U.S. bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police" surround the trailer, use a battering ram on an unlocked door, throw people to the floor, point guns at their heads, handcuff them, and proceed to trash...

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho gun shop that went to federal court to keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from pulling its gun license has reached a settlement with the agency. Terry and Ryan Horsley of Red's Trading Post in Twin Falls asked the court to review their case in 2007, after the ATF revoked their license. The ATF said the shop had repeatedly violated gun sales rules. The Horsleys said they had been targeted by the agency and that most of the problems were clerical, such as using abbreviations on gun sale documentation. Red's Trading Shop...

Claimant objects to defendant property being referred to as a “machine gun,” because it does not fit the definition of a machine gun in the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations. The details of the Answer, specifically as stated in the Third Defense, demonstrate the Machiavellian way ATF deals with citizens they view as enemies: The BATF attempted to coerce the Claimant’s president into resubmitting defendant property as a machine gun, which would have subjected Claimant’s president to a charge of perjury and/or providing false statement to a government agency, violations of 18 USC § 1001. The...

Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent-in-Charge Stephen C. Herkins announced that United States District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. sentenced Ricardo Madrigal, 28, of Stockton, Calif., to four years and eight months in federal prison for dealing firearms without a license, interstate travel to acquire firearms to deal without a license, transporting firearms interstate in furtherance of unlicensed firearms dealings, and possession of an unregistered machine gun. He pleaded guilty on August 7, 2008. This case is the product of an investigation by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and...

BATFE arrests not a person, but a gun part. That's right folks, the stupidity has reached a new level. BATFE has arrested a belt fed upper for a MAC 10. Len Savage, a licensed firearms manufacturer, registered an upper as an SBR and submitted it lawfully to BATFE for confirmation. BATFE attempted to have Mr. Savage modify his submission (illegally) to register the item as a machinegun. He of course refused. BATFE has now arrested the upper after using a metal plate, a chain and wire ties (conversion devices) to make it fire. This move by BATFE is the same...

 Graphic:     Weapons confiscated last year by Paterson police. A new state program is gathering unprecedented information about illegal guns traveling into New Jersey, and police expect to tap that data this year as part of a statewide crackdown on weapons used in violent crimes. New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but they can’t stop people from bringing weapons here from less regulated states. Almost three-quarters of guns recovered in New Jersey were purchased elsewhere, according to federal data released last year. To help stanch that flow, New Jersey will become the first...

Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc.Legislative Action CommitteeI know of at least 3 FFL holders in parts of the state of Tennessee who are actively being pursued by ATF on license revocations and/or who have recently surrendered the license because its simply too expenses and to hard to fight ATF. I have been told there are many more. What I have seen is that this trend by the ATF is getting worse and will likely get much worse with Obama in control of the Executive Branch (and thus appointing the Attorney General) and with Pelosi and Reed in almost total control of...

Every year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finds thousands of licensed gun dealers in violation of federal law, often for very minor problems. The agency, which conducts about 11,000 inspections a year, says it has come up with a way to eliminate many of those violations before they happen. Instead of filling out the required ATF paperwork by hand, gun buyers and dealers will now be able to complete what officials say is a fail-safe electronic version of the document, known as Form 4473. Speaking at a gun shop in Upper Marlboro where he announced the change,...

The Outdoor Wire has confirmed from confidential sources that the "transition team" for the Democratic candidate has already begun looking into the current approval system for firearms transactions. It seems the digital recordkeeping approval recently granted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has piqued their curiosity. With a virtual Form 4473 in existence, we should be on the lookout for a new record-keeping initiative that will "simplify" the hassles of off-site digital record storage by allowing FFLs to, say, store the information on secure governmental servers. Of course, the government will never access the information.

The new ATF 4473's are arriving at gun dealers around the country. The new yellow forms are supposed to be used no later than November 15. There is an important difference between the new forms and the old forms. The old forms only differentiated between "Long Gun" and "Handgun". The new forms have another category "Other" which covers stripped receivers. From the instructions that go with the new form: If a frame or receiver can only be made into a long gun (rifle or shotgun) it is still a frame or receiver not a handgun or long gun. However they...

BATFE Adds Theft to Its Crimes Friday, October 17, 2008 Coloseum Software Corporation has developed software that will help dealers record all of the information that is unconstitutionally required by the federal government -- and to keep that information in a way that insulates them from bogus prosecutions at the hands of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (aka The Gang). The document that is most often involved in "gotcha" injustices is the Form 4473 which all customers must fill out when buying from a licensed federal firearms dealer -- a requirement that is yet another unconstitutional imposition...

ACLU Director of Communications Brandon Hensler says the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida received an early victory today when Senior Federal Judge Lacey A. Collier denied the ATF’s motions for summary judgment in Kilpatrick v. U.S. The ACLU filed the case on April 18, 2006, on behalf of Karen J. Kilpatrick, who claimed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) violated her Free Speech rights. Kilpatrick was driving her blue van in Pensacola on April 19, 2004, with the slogans “Remember the Children of Waco” and “Boo ATF” written on some of the windows when she was...

My name is Butch Housman. Months ago I wrote a letter to the editor of this newspaper. As a result, Federal Agent Thomas Chittum asked to move the trial of my friends Leonard and Tom Elliott to Frankfort and cited my letter as cause, claiming I had “polluted the jury pool.” I was named specifically before the court and was criticized for questioning both the mission of his agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and in particular his case against the Bacon Creek Gun Shop. I didn’t realize I was such an influential scribe. In light of...

A federal judge decided Tuesday that Jim’s Gun Jobbery of Fayetteville and the Jim’s store in Wilmington can keep their licenses to sell firearms. Jim’s Gun Jobbery in Fayetteville and Jim’s Pawn & Gun in Wilmington sometimes violated regulations requiring dealers to closely track their inventory, U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard said in his ruling. But he decided the violations were unintentional and made up only a tiny percentage of the stores’ sales since Jim Faircloth went into business in 1977. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been trying since 2005 to revoke the licenses of Jim’s,...

WASHINGTON - The ATF lost 76 weapons and hundreds of laptops over five years, the Justice Department reported Wednesday, blaming carelessness and sloppy record-keeping. ... "It is especially troubling that that ATF's rate of loss for weapons was nearly double that of the FBI and DEA, and that ATF did not even know whether most of its lost, stolen, or missing laptop computers contained sensitive or classified information," he added. ... Compared to weapons loss rates for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, the ATF misplaced almost twice as many guns. ... The Justice Department's report can be found at:...

Affidavit failed to reveal 1st test showing rifle was semi-automatic The federal government allegedly suppressed evidence and edited a legal definition in a Wisconsin case against a man who ultimately was convicted of transferring a machine gun, according to an appeal document. WND reported earlier on the case against David Olofson, who has begun serving a 30-month prison term for his actions, even though his defense lawyers argued the AR-15 rifle he loaned to a friend was broken, not a machine gun. The Gun Owners of America launched a campaign to help support Olofson's family while he was serving time,...

In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld. Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them. In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling...

"It's extremely irresponsible and most likely actionable negligence," Charlotte, North Carolina, attorney Monroe Whitesides tells me. The Board Certified Specialist in Criminal Law is talking about BATFE's treatment of competition shooter John Glover, who had seven firearms seized and was indicted for manufacturing an illegal machinegun. If convicted, Glover was in danger of federal prison. As part of his investigation, Whitesides accompanied firearms expert Len Savage, of Historic Arms LLC, to the Cabarrus County Sheriff's firing range. There, BATFE Agent Michael Cooney, who wrote the report declaring one of the seized rifles fired "automatically," set out to prove it on...

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearmstech/081508manufacturing-of-firearms.pdf 8. A gunsmith regularly buys military-type firearms, Mausers, etc., and sporterizes" them for resale. The gunsmith is in the business of manufacturing firearms and should be licensed as a manufacturer. 9. A gunsmith buys semiautomatic pistols and modifies the slides to accept a new style of sights. The sights are not usually sold with these firearms and do not attach to the existing mounting openings. The gunsmith offers these firearms for sale. This would be considered the manufacturing of firearms, and the gunsmith should be licensed as a manufacturer. 10. A gunsmith buys government model pistols and installs "drop-in"...

The Gun Owners of America have launched a campaign to help support the family of a man sentenced to 30 months in jail for a rifle that misfired. Officials with GOA today announced they will be working to generate support for the wife and three children of David Olofson, on whom WND has reported in the past, while a GOA-orchestrated appeal of his conviction proceeds. "Not only is Gun Owners of American representing Olofson during his appeal, we have set up an Olofson relief fund so that his wife and mother of their three young children will be able to...

BATFE: Any Semi-Auto Can Be A Machine Gun by Larry Pratt On July 2 I went to jail. Happily for me, I left right away. Sadly for David Olofson and his family, he had to stay, and will have to stay for 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Sandstone, Minnesota. Why is the federal government incarcerating an Army reservist from Berlin, Wisconsin who has 16 years of service, a mortgage, a wife and three kids? They convicted him for knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun. Since the case was brought by the rogue agency -- the Bureau of...

'The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice' A Wisconsin man today surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning about the owner's liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever misfire. "A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic...

HUDSON - For years, marksmen have used a technique called bump firing: shooting a semiautomatic rifle from the hip and allowing the weapon's recoil to pull the trigger. With the assault-weapons ban keeping most fully automatic weapons out of their hands, it was one of the few ways for enthusiasts to enjoy the thrill of firing a machine gun. Bill Akins found a way to simulate that action by inventing a device that mechanized the recoil resistance of a semiautomatic rifle to fire more rapid, and accurate, bursts of bullets. The Hudson man spent nearly a decade designing the Akins...

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is using a vacant lot behind the Talladega Superspeedway to detonate 168 illegal weapons seized from the Alabama Free Militia. ... Members of the Alabama Free Militia claimed their weapons were for self-defense. But ATF bomb experts say faulty fuses on the homemade grenades made them highly dangerous — not only to the public, but the militia members themselves. The seven defendants in the Alabama Free Militia investigation have pled guilty to various weapons charges. Now that they’re behind bars, the ATF is able to wrap up this case with a bang....

In New York City, where taking illegal handguns off the streets is high on the mayor’s agenda, thousands of firearms make it into the hands of law enforcement officers each year. Once they’ve been seized in crimes, whether after long and ignominious careers or short but violent ones, and once their owners have been prosecuted, the guns must be destroyed, never to be used again. The New York field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives periodically takes the guns it gathers to an industrial stretch of road in Westchester County, about 20 miles north of...

WEAPONS OF CHOICE 30 months in jail for broken gun Judge hands down penalty for misfire from 20-year-old rifle A federal judge has ordered a 30-month prison sentence for a man whose rifle misfired, letting loose three shots at a firing range, prompting 2nd Amendment supporters to warn their constituents how easily they, too, can become a "gun felon." "It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier or sear, that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that...

(CNSNews.com) - Posters reading, "Be Cool... Don't Let Guns Rule" are going up in all public schools in Hamilton County, Tenn., which includes the Chattanooga metropolitan area. "The initiative will aid in keeping guns out of schools, thus allowing students and teachers to focus on learning," the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a news release. The ATF says as students walk their school hallways, they will see the posters, which promise anonymity to those who call Crime Stoppers to report what they see or hear. "The time period between preventing an act of violence and...

MIAMI -- Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives barged into a South Florida home Wednesday only to discover they had the wrong address. The ATF agents were supposed to conduct a raid at a home in the 2600 block of Northwest 49th Terrace in northwest Miami-Dade County, but they were off by one block. They entered a house on Northwest 49th Street instead. A mother and her 2-year-old boy were among the innocent people inside the home when the agents came in

Somebody sent me an email mentioning the ATF ordering Leatherman tools engraved with "Always Think Forfeiture". I followed the link to the original message thread at www.subguns.com.The thread includes a link to the Federal Business Opportunities website, where you can read the bid for yourself.From the www.fbo.gov website:The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms requires the following items, Purchase Description Determined by Line Item, to the following: LI 001, EXACT MATCH ONLY - Leatherman Micra Color: Blue - Part number 64340101K Engraved with: ATF-Asset Forfeiture AND "always think forfeiture" PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHMENT. NOTE: ATF MAY REQUEST A SAMPLE...

The Right To Bear Arms Our constitutional right to keep and to bear arms is under attack from the federal government. Army reservist David Olofson was convicted in federal court of "transferring a machine gun," after his 20-year-old AR-15 rifle malfunctioned on a shooting range.

Edgar A. Domenech says he thought Justice Department officials would welcome information about mismanagement at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Instead, the 23-year ATF veteran says, Justice officials ignored his complaints and later retaliated against him by demoting him, denying him a bonus and attempting to give him a poor job review.

The confirmation of US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was thrown into further doubt yesterday, when a Republican senator who is blocking the nomination renewed complaints that Sullivan has refused to loosen licensing rules for guns. The development means that the future leadership of the US attorney's office in Boston will remain cloudy for the foreseeable future, because the Bush administration has been unable to nominate a replacement. For now, Sullivan is performing both roles while his nomination is caught in a crossfire over gun policy. Senator David Vitter of...

HUDSON - It was a simple idea, with big potential. For years, marksmen have been using a technique called bump firing, shooting a semiautomatic rifle from the hip and allowing the weapon's recoil to pull the trigger. With federal regulations keeping fully automatic weapons out of their hands, it was one of the few ways for firearm enthusiasts to enjoy the thrill of firing a machine gun. If there was only a way to simulate that action, Bill Akins wondered, by creating a device that mechanized the recoil resistance to fire more rapid, and accurate, bursts of bullets. Thus the...

Associated Press Idaho's senators are blocking President Bush's nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, the acting ATF director for more than a year. Crapo's spokesman, Lindsay Nothern, said the senator's office has heard from a number of gun dealers, gun owners and others in Idaho who "have concerns about ATF policies regarding gun sales and even (gun) ownership. Maybe the federal government is getting a little...

If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) is not trying to create an electronically accessible database which contains all the firearms sold to citizens in the U.S. (past and future), then my some thirty years in the information technology field has taught me nothing. Oh, did I mention that such a BATFE database is illegal? And it is the first step towards a firearms registry and subsequent confiscation of same by your friendly government agents. Facts: 1. We know by BATFE’s own admission that the number of Federal Firearms Licenses (FFL), which is required to sell firearms...

TWIN FALLS - Nothing much happened and the complaints came too late. That's how a Boise attorney responded to a federal agency's claim that his client, the manager of a local gun store, harassed and intimidated agents until they left the store. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exaggerated its July 17 claim that Red's Trading Post Manager Ryan Horsley intimidated its agents, wrote Horsley's attorney, Mark S. Geston, in a response filed Aug. 6 in federal court. While ATF is yanking Red's license, citing numerous violations, a federal judge has allowed the store to continue operating...

I've been sitting on some facts for a few days at the request of Ryan Horsley. BATFU had threatened him that he needed to cease all blogging and keep their agents and inspectors free from being photographed or observed, or they would go to the judge and file a complaint of harassment. Ryan was in a dilemma--he has been single-handedly bearing the burden of his defense against a fe(de)ral government with practically unlimited resources--yet if he continued to allow his persecutors to operate in the dark, that is where they would kill Red's. The new complaint is calculated to be...

The government is using paperwork errors as small as the abbreviation of a city name to shut down some of the nation's longest-serving gun shops, and 2nd Amendment advocates fear the right to bear arms will mean little if there's no way to obtain a gun. "No good deed goes unpunished," Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, told WND while confirming that as recently as 15 or 20 years ago, there were 250,000 licensed gun dealers in the United States. Today, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told WND, there are 108,381, and if more cases...

Store says feds confiscating licenses for inadvertent trivia The government is using paperwork errors as small as the abbreviation of a city name to shut down some of the nation's longest-serving gun shops,"No good deed goes unpunished," Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, told WND while confirming that as recently as 15 or 20 years ago, there were 250,000 licensed gun dealers in the United States. Today, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told WND, there are 108,381, and if more cases involving dealers such as Red's Trading Post of Twin Falls, Idaho, develop, that number...

JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIPAmerica's Most Aggressive Defender of Firearms Ownership Home  |  Articles  |  Campaigns  |  Network  |  Books, Videos, Apparel  |  About JPFO War in Middle East | Profiling the Police State | Membership/Donations   Am I an Enemy of the US Government?by Len Savage Prior to July 7, 2003, I would never have asked myself that question. Now I find myself reflecting back to that day when I ponder, "How in the world did this mess get started?".I am a Federally licensed firearms manufacturer. As a responsible member of my industry I always worked closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives...