U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Last Friday, October 9, 2020, our attorneys received a letter from ATF Chief Counsel Joel Roessner ‘temporarily suspending the Cease and Desist letter’ associated with the Honey Badger Pistol by Q®,” Q, LLC announced.
“The letter states that the suspension, ‘will remain in effect for a period of sixty (60) days . . . unless withdrawn or extended by ATF.’ The stated purpose of the suspension is to allow the Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) an opportunity, ‘to further review the applicability of the National Firearms Act to the manufacture and transfer of the model ‘Honey Badger Pistol’ firearm.’”
It also provides an opportunity to get to the bottom of who exactly at ATF has been behind the move before the suspension is withdrawn. That’s because my attorney, Stephen Stamboulieh, filed a Freedom of Information Act request on my behalf asking for documents that could reveal who authorized the determination that the National Firearms Act had been violated and that Q, LLC, and thousands of gun owners could be considered in criminal violation.
The window of opportunity could close before the 20-business days ATF has to respond to the FOIA have passed if Joe Biden wins the election on November 3. That’s because certain facts, and the absence of certain information, have led to the speculation that the move was made by entrenched ATF employees seeking to demoralize gun owners by having “Trump’s ATF” enact another negative ruling against them.
That’s a potential I raised in an October 9 Firearms News piece, “Will President Trump Let ATF Continue to Rule by Unchecked Diktat with Honey Badger ‘Reclassification’?” That the order came out of the Boston Field Division was the first indicator that seemed curious. Did “leadership” sign off on the Honey Badger decision?
An exclusive insider-sourced AmmoLand report by John Crump concluded “Rogue ATF Leadership Targets the Honey Badger & Gun Voters Before the Election,” and noted:
“ATF Acting Director Regina Lombardo, who is not President Trump’s pick to lead the ATF, is a career bureaucrat. AmmoLand News’ sources inside the agency say she is not loyal to the president. Several independent sources have stated that Lombardo has a narrower definition of the Second Amendment than President Trump & the rest of America. Sources also tell AmmoLand News that Associate Deputy Director Marvin Richardson, another career bureaucrat, has an ax-to-grind against pistol braces and believes they violate the NFA but doesn’t think that they have the political capital to make a move against the millions of accessories under a Trump presidency.”
A subsequent AmmoLand report by Dean Weingarten observed:
“The Boston Field Office of the ATF issued the Honey Badger Cease and Desist letter. They claimed the Firearms and Technology Division determined the firearm is a short-barreled rifle. It is not clear if Lombardo and/or Richardson approved of the letter before it went out. In a well-run Bureau, such a sensitive item would not be sent out without approval from the top brass.”
I explored that lack of clarity in my Firearms News piece by consulting with friend and colleague Len Savage, firearms designer, expert witness, and President, Historic Arms, LLC:
“As to the Honey Badger Issue specifically: Why is a field office making national policy for ATF and why was this not a release from HQ or Firearms Enforcement Programs?” Savage questions. “Has anyone asked for ‘Correspondence Approval and Clearance Form’ (ATF form 9310.3A)?
“It will have every ATF official who signed off on this nonsense…Perhaps somebody should ask to see it?” he continues. “Also, there should also be a ‘ATF Report of Technical Examination’ (ATF form 3311.2)?
“This form should be the basis of any determination and if there is not one to support the ‘Correspondence Approval and Clearance Form,’ well them somebody made this up out of whole cloth and those somebodies signed off on it before it was sent out,” Savage concludes. “It not hard to find out, it’s getting anybody to give a damn.”
I give a damn and we’ll see if it’s hard to find out. Hence this latest action.
“Please see attached FOIA,” Stamboulieh wrote to ATF in a Thursday email. “It is also being sent by fax.”
Now we see if they respond timely, claim a Covid delay, or balk at sending altogether if a pending new regime allows it. Here’s what we sent them:
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
The ATF arbitrarily made the bump stock a machine gun and promptly got sued. Now they try the brace thing to see if they can get away with that. If they do then they’ll say ALL braces make the pistol a SBR.
Oh David, this is a real eye-opener.
Thank you for this!
All we need is for Trump to make it official. “We all know from the writings of the founding era that anything repugnant to the Constitution is null and void. In that light it is my constitutional duty to enforce the prevention of even minor infractions of the right to own and carry firearms as the supreme law of the law. To wit I have issued an executive order abolishing the ATF and another indicating that the laws infringing on this right will not be enforced because they violate the constitution and are not considered part of the supreme law… Read more »
Dream, dream dream dream Dream dream dream dream. I guess it’s OK to dream. I do it all the time. So far none have come true though.
They will be lucky to see anything before the election and even then the redactions will be an interesting sight
David I appreciate the way you are not just playing Junkard Dog, attacking whoever hops the fence in the dark of night, but have become part of a network of “observers” who proactivley go after the intruders once their intentioins are evident, attacking them on their own turf to prevent them, if possible, coming to the junkyard to be individually repelled by the “nice doggie” inside the fence. Reminds me a lot of colonial times, the Committees of COrrespondence, and Paul Revere’s ubiqutous “mechanics”. It was thanks to a half dozen or so of those “mechainics” reporting that the British… Read more »
Ban the batfe. Much like antifa and blm, the atfe is state sponcered terrorism. Any law repugnant to the constitution is null and void;. Mulberry vs Madison. Again, ban the batfe.
Arm up and carry on
C’mon man, it’s the swamp! I honestly don’t see any way possible to clean up the swamp. Yes, voting them out will work but it would take forever. I think “flush” the swamp is the only way the swamp is going anywhere. Flush as is push the lever and the shit is gone now.
Excellent job David!
That Boston field office has had a lot of “Rats” in including the FBI office as well.
need I mention the Tsarnaev Brothers and their kitchen tools caper, so called?
“How would you like these guys showing up at your door because a motivated anonymous bureaucrat decided it was a politically advantageous time to change the rules?” Well, if we had the militias back and I could call on a few of my local militia members to come to my aid and we could bring out MILITIA weapons which would include SBR’s, SBS’s, AOW’s, Sound supressors and MACHINE GUNS so that we would be not only evenly matched weapon wise, but actually at a tactical advantage…well then SURE. But in the REAL WORLD, not so much because “they are special”.… Read more »
I figured there would be at least one brain dead lemming that can’t see the fire that’s under his ass. Maybe even more. Cognitive dissonance anyone? A problem with Stockholm Syndrome maybe? Only an idiot(s) living in a make believe world would give this a thumb down.
Thank you David…..thank you brother for exemplifying outstanding Civics lesson in the form of ‘giving a dam’.
Is there any follow-up on this? Since the ATF withdrew the letter, I am not seeing any changes. Or am I mistaken?
I still blame the “Firearms Media” for causing a big part of the problem that the Q Honey Badger, and probably every other brace equipped “pistol” platform, find themselves in today. Firearms News is a perfect example. EVERY article printed in that publiction regarding brace equipped “pistols” show said weapons being “shouldered”. I’ve only ever seen ONE picture of the brace being used as intended, mounted on the forearm. No wonder the ATF might get the impression that the brace is not really being used as designed. You want a REAL short barreled rifle, not some faux, poser of dubious… Read more »
Good point first paragraph. But you had to add the next two dismissive paragraphs.
1 – 2 = -1
David Koresh much? If not THAT David, try on Randy Weaver.
what REAL difference is there between my Ruger 10/.22 with a 19 inch barrel, and that same RUger 10/.2 shortened to 15.75 inches? And YOU expect em to ay Uncle Stupid the two hun, submit to the other noensense I’ve already submitted to to BUY the original one, thenWAIT a month and a half, IF the covidmadness doesn’t stratch that out to, say a year and a half? Are those not various “INFRONIGEMENTS”? But you COMLETELY MISS the root evil we’re dealing wiht here, and David COdrea has clearly exposed this previously. I’d suggest yuo dig a bit deeper into… Read more »
First off. Tell is, do you own guns and use them ? Or perhaps you are just another troll that hangs out here to spit on those you disagree with. The Firearms Regulations created by the BATFE were either written by a 4 yr old or Idiots and continue so to this day. As for the so called Rambos, There have been 2 in my time. Randy Weaver and David Koresh. Both were charged with ATF violations. I dont defend David Koresh, but I do defend Randy Weaver. Expect to see many more Americans to defy a Biden Administration order… Read more »