Beware Biden's ATF

With legislation to restrict our rights basically a no-go at the federal level, it looks like the Biden Administration is turning to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fireams, and Explosives (BATFE) to do what he can't do legislatively.  In an article posted today on The Reload, Jake Fogleman lays out the latest action by the firearms regulatory agency:

The latest example is an open letter sent Thursday to all federally-licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) revealing the ATF has determined many forced-reset triggers (FRTs)—drop-in replacement triggers that increase the speed a semi-automatic gun can be fired—are considered machine guns under federal law. That will subject the previously-unregulated trigger devices to heavy regulation under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

“ATF’s examination found that some FRT devices allow a firearm to automatically expel more than one shot with a single, continuous pull of the trigger,” the letter reads. “For this reason, ATF has concluded that FRTs that function in this way are a combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and hence, ATF has classified these devices as a ‘machinegun’ as defined by the [National Firearms Act] and [Gun Control Act].”

Illegal possession of a machine gun carries a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison. And it appears the agency is ready and willing to enforce those provisions.

“Based on ATF’s determination that the FRTs that function as described above are ‘machineguns’ under the NFA and GCA, ATF intends to take appropriate remedial action with respect to sellers and possessors of these devices,” the letter reads.

Fogleman points out that the letter explains that individuals who already own the devices legally should contact ATF to work out a way to dispose of them. If those folks fail to comply, the ATF may be knocking at the door in the future.

He continues that:

The veiled threat of future raids by federal agents over a niche firearms accessory calls into question recent attacks from gun-control organizations and The New York Times that the agency is too friendly to the industry. Major gun control groups Brady and Giffords have criticized the ATF’s work with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry’s trade group, and asked President Biden to direct the agency to sever ties with the group.

Fogleman notes that all of this has occurred without anti-gun David Chipman at the head of the agency, and there is likely more to come, with the rules on pistol braces and homemade firearms still to be finalized.