05OCT2017 GOP leaders say no action will be taken on gun legislation
Trump has called the Sunday night shooting at an outdoor music festival an "act of pure evil" and declared the nation would unite behind the survivors. Asked about gun laws, the president said,
"We'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by."
20JAN2017
ATF White Paper - Options to Reduce or Modify Firearms Regulations (by BATF&E #2 Ronald Turk)
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3455293/ATF-White-Paper-Options-to-Reduce-or-Modify.pdf
highlights:
ATF is the only Federal law enforcement agency with a primary mission that directly involves an Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Thus, our actions and policies are appropriately subjected to intense review and scrutiny. This paper serves to provide the new Administration and the Bureau multiple options to consider and discuss regarding firearms regulations specific to ATF.
These general thoughts provide potential ways to reduce or modify regulations, or suggest changes that promote commerce and defend the Second
Amendment without significant negative impact on ATF’s mission to fight violent firearms crime and regulate the firearms industry.
This white paper is intended to provide ideas and provoke conversation; it is not guidance or policy of any kind. ATF’s enforcement and regulatory efforts are focused on reducing violence and increasing public safety. Positive steps to further reduce gun violence through enforcement or regulation are extremely important but are not the focus of this paper.
16 items of note (random from #13 below after 2 final paragraphs).
There are many regulatory changes or modifications that can be made by or through ATF that would have an immediate, positive impact on
commerce and industry without significantly hindering ATFs mission or adversely affecting public safety. There are also areas where
adjustments to policy or processes could improve ATF operations. Alleviating some of these concerns would continue to support ATF’s
relationships across the firearms and sporting industry, and allow ATF to further focus precious personnel and resources on the mission to
combat gun violence. In addition to these points of discussion, it is vital for ATF to find resources to refresh aging technology and
systems that support law enforcement and the firearms industry. Functionality at ATF’s Martinsburg facility and other areas has been
severely hampered by outdated technology and systems that negatively impact ATF’s ability to provide services and information.
#
13 Pending ATF Regulation Regarding FFL Records Retention (20 years): ATF has a regulation pending at DOJ to increase the requirements for
FFLs to retain records INDEFINATELY. The current standard is 20 years, and records older than 20 years can be
destroyed.
2 Armor Piercing Ammunition: ATF has regulatory authority to classify what is and is not armor piercing (AP) ammunition.
Continued inaction on these requests poses significant litigation and REPUTATIONAL RISKS to ATF. ATF can readily mitigate these risks by
using the criteria established in the framework to process and approve many of the applications, while leaving the 5.56 “green tip” AP
ammunition exemption intact.
Moving forward with approval of these applications is consistent with the statutory goal of protecting the public and law enforcement
because, consistent with the statutory exemption, the projectiles involved are not associated with criminal use, but instead are clearly
designed and intended for hunting and sporting purposes ...
If decisional restrictions were removed, ATF could readily apply drafted standards for reviewing AP ammo requests while leaving the 5.56
“green tip” AP ammo exemption intact. Many of the industries’ pending requests could be decided in a timely manner, meeting
both statutory requirements and safety concerns within the law.
my favorites:
5 Firearm Arm or Stabilizing Brace: Manufacturers have produced an arm brace or stabilizing brace which is designed to strap a handgun to a
forearm to allow a disabled shooter to fire the firearm. Many at ATF are concerned about manufacturing processes continuing to push the boundaries between a Gun Control Act (GCA) and an NFA gun, ATF has a relatively consistent history of what crosses the line between GCA '68 and NFA firearms with which to draw from, and still maintains the ability to exercise good judgement with future requests based upon the firearm’s individual style.
6 Reissue a New Sporting Purpose Study: Since the sunset of the Assault Weapons ban in 2004, the use of AR-15s, AK-style, and similar
rifles now commonly referred to as “modern sporting rifles” has increased exponentially in sport shooting. Many concerns from the firearms
industry could be re-examined through the publication of a new Sporting Purpose Study along with an updated Imports Branch Guide (can be made available to the public).
7 Creation of a Database of Agency Rulings: ATF lacks a consistent internal database to maintain and readily access private letters and ruling. The public also has no direct access to public rulings in a manageable format. The inability to access these rulings can create inconsistent agency interpretations of agency guidance. ATF can create a retrievable database for internal use that includes access by the public for open rulings.
14 Expanding Permissive Use of NICS Checks by FFL Holders: Standard pre-employment background checks frequently do not reveal that a person
is firearms-disabled. A key aspect of this proposal is that it would be entirely elective; if the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), ATF and others all concurred with this slight expansion of the use of NICS, there would be no mandate that licensees perform a NICS check on all employees.
15 Need for an ATF Confirmed Director: Since moving from the Department of Treasury to the DOJ in 2003, ATF has had only one Senate-
confirmed Director. The agency needs a presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed Director who has the support and backing of the Administration to lead ATF. This will enable the agency to be fully in sync with leadership, and maximize the agency’s potential regarding priorities, budgets, and support.
16 Old Regulations Under Review for Possible Removal or Amendment: Below is a list of the firearms and explosives regulations that are currently under review. They are likely no longer applicable (or portions of which are no longer applicable), and may be removed as part of a final rule to remove expired regulations. 26 items listed a-z
Of Interest:
a. 478.40–
Assault Weapons ban
b. 478.40a– prohibition language for assault weapons
c. 478.57(b) and (c)– assault weapons and large capacity magazines
d. 478.92 (portions)– AP ammo and large capacity magazines
e. 478.116 (portions)– importing large capacity magazines
f. 478.119– importing large capacity magazines and feeding devices (belts, drums, strips...)
g. 478.132– records keeping for large capacity feeding devices sold to law enforcement
8
Silencers: Current Federal law requires ATF to regulate silencers under the NFA. ATF has devoted substantial resources in attempts to
reduce processing times, spending over $1 million annually in overtime and temporary duty expenses, and dedicating over 33 additional full-
time and contract positions since 2011 to support NFA processing. Despite these efforts, NFA processing times are widely viewed by
applicants and the industry as far too long, resulting in numerous complaints to Congress.
Since silencers account for the vast majority of NFA applications, the most direct way to reduce processing times is to reduce the number of
silencer applications. In light of the expanding demand and acceptance of silencers, however, that volume is unlikely to
diminish unless they are removed from the NFA. While DOJ and ATF have historically not supported removal of items from the NFA, the change
in public acceptance of silencers arguably indicates that the reason for their inclusion in the NFA is archaic and
historical reluctance to removing them from the NFA should be reevaluated.
Silencers are very rarely used in criminal shootings. Given the lack of criminality associated with silencers,
it is reasonable to conclude that they should not be viewed as a threat to public safety necessitating NFA classification, and should be considered for reclassification under the GCA.