U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- On December 10, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives raided Dayton, Nev.-based Polymer80. The company manufactures unfinished, often referred to as 80 percent, receivers, and frames. There are also reports of BATFE confronting Polymer80 customers and confiscating certain unfinished frame kits. The move marks the first direct assault on unfinished frames and receivers since the news broke in November of collusion between BATFE and Biden’s transition team to target these items by executive fiat.
On November 10, gun rights activist John Crump published a piece for Ammoland.com with details of a leaked BATFE conference call in which BATFE Acting Director Regina Lombardo and Associate Deputy Director Marvin Richardson participated.
According to the article, “Acting Director Regina Lombardo told those in attendance that the anti-gun Biden transition team has reached out to the ATF to get the agency’s ‘top priorities.’” The item went on to note that “Lombardo told those on the call that her priorities would be pistol braces and 80% lower receivers.”
It appears BATFE couldn’t wait for inauguration day to commence their attack on the firearms industry and gun owners.
Federal statute (18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3)) defines “firearm” in part as “(A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon.” In the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), “firearm frame or receiver” is further defined as “That part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel.”
A Federal Firearms License (FFL) is required to commercially manufacture or deal in firearms. Further, licensees must comply with background checks and record-keeping requirements when selling firearms.
Most of what Polymer80 manufactures and sells are not “firearms.” The company specializes in unfinished frames or receivers. The items require significant expertise, time, effort, and specialized tools in order to be used to assemble a working firearm, therefore they do not meet the definition of a “firearm” under federal statute or regulation. As such, these unfinished frames and receivers are not subject to the same federal gun controls attendant to “firearms.”
BATFE has acknowledged this fact.
Polymer80 repeatedly sent its products to BATFE’s Firearms Technology Industry Services Branch (FTISB) to ensure their products comply with federal law. On their website, Polymer80 hosts BATFE determination letters for several of its products.
In a 2017 determination letter for one of Polymer80’s most popular products, the PF940C unfinished pistol frame, BATFE explained, “As a result of this FTISB evaluation, the submitted ‘PF940C’ is not sufficiently complete to be classified as the frame or receiver of a firearm and thus is not a ‘firearm’ as defined in the [Gun Control Act].”
Other Polymer80-BATFE determination letters concerning various unfinished frames or receivers date back to the Obama administration in 2015.
According to reports, BATFE raided Polymer80 due to its sale of what the company calls its “Buy Build Shoot” kits. These kits contain a Polymer80 unfinished pistol frame along with other parts necessary to complete a pistol. Despite its previous acknowledgment that the unfinished frame is not a firearm, BATFE has taken the position that when the unfinished frame is packaged with other non-firearm parts the entire package becomes a “firearm” for the purposes of federal law.
Of further concern is that BATFE seized customer records from Polymer80 during the raid and that the agency had previously obtained some customer recorders from third-party shipping service Stamps.com. Since the raid, there have been reports of BATFE confronting Polymer80 customers about their purchases.
Gun rights supporters should interpret BATFE’s increasingly dubious interpretations of federal law and their resulting enforcement actions as indicative of the peril gun owners will face under a Biden administration and prepare for political action accordingly. NRA is continuing to monitor this developing situation and is taking action to confront this BATFE abuse.
About NRA-ILA:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
Now begins the next exercise in the administrative state under progressive management vs the written statute. Dark times are once again around the corner. When the will of bureaucrats becomes the law in lieu of the actual text of the statute your liberty is at risk. And that is the very crux of progressive power in the assault on individual liberty. The progressive logic at play here is this: legislators and legislatures working in concert with executives and courts cannot possibly craft public policy. Bureaucrats must take their inept product resulting from the separation of powers and re-craft those written… Read more »
The Administrative State has been used by both Democrats and Republicans to effectively pass law without going through the legislature. The acceleration began two and a half years ago.
The deafening silence from Republicans is indicative of both their participation and the fact that they will not be coming to the rescue.
Donald Trump has been president for all of 2020 and the BATFE reports to the executive branch.
This is one reason, on top of arbitrary regulations, capricous behavior, showboating, harming innocent people and acting contrary to the supreme law of the land that this agency is null and void. Its operates outside the delegated powers and specific limitations on federal government. They are a constant danger to citizens and should be removed from the budget once and forever.
Just imagine the chaos and killing the DNC/CCP will cause if their puppets aren’t seated in our White House…..
Question: Why should a department head reach out to a future president for advice while still serving under a current president, Answer: the kind that would stab you in the back to further their career.
President Trump has had way too many of these type of people in his government, one’s that I call Simple Servants.
Questions:
The ATFE is now a rouge anti 2A agency, which need to be regulated or disbanded.
They are not a “rogue” agency – Trump just needs to tell them to stop their current enforcement actions. They followed his orders to ban bump stocks and they will follow his order to stop what they are doing with respect to braced pistols, 80% pistol frames, and suppressor kits. They are not “rogue” – they are subject to the orders of the president, but he must give those orders.
This is fair warning to anyone who has built a firearm from an 80% receiver. The ATF NAZIS obtained builders information by seizing sales records and shipping information. Unless you bought your receiver and parts at a gun show or store and paid cash they can get your information. Don’t be surprised if you get a knock on your door in the middle of the night from the SS demanding you surrender your firearm or your arrest if They ban so called “assault weapons”.
He is Wayne is still sucking up for a Pardon
I did not realize Trump is under investigation for Treason? While I agree his attempt to steal a lawful election is treasonous, but does not fall under the Constitutions definition
You are confusing President Trump with Usurper Joe Biden.
AZ Lefty Troll, go post on your big tech communist socialist media.