Washington, D.C. -(Ammoland.com)- After tens of thousands of comments left by gun owners over the ATF’s proposed guidance over pistol braces, the agency pulled it from the National Registry.
The agency released the proposal and gave the public two weeks to respond. Many in the gun world believed that the ATF chose to release the document right before the Christmas holiday, hoping that the gun community wouldn’t notice it until it was too late. The American people did notice. Every firearms publication ran non stop coverage of the confusing and nonsensical proposal. YouTubers of all sizes encouraged people to write comments to the government about the new guidance.
One YouTube channel that ran a marathon live stream reading submitted comments was Gunwebsites. During the live streams, the channel’s owner, Pete, gave viewers tips on submitting official comments and could see what other people wrote. He hosted panels of gun-rights advocates that discussed what to write and what not to write.
“I did it so people could see what the comments were like, a random sample of what was being posted five days into what we thought would be a rough ‘ask’ over Christmas,” Pete told AmmoLand. “If you watched, it knocked me on my ass how amazing they all were.”
“Going into it, of course, I assumed we’d find an assortment of the ‘shall not be infringed’ along with the paid-for Bloomberg ‘thanks for doing this,’ but instead, with my random sample, all I found was eloquent, well-thought-out reasoned insightful instructions to our government employees.”
Even the politicians got involved in rebuking the ATF’s power play. North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson and 89 other Congress members signed a letter urging the ATF to reverse course on the disastrous move. Together they urged the ATF to “correct this injustice” and not infringe on American’s rights.
Every gun-rights group took the fight to the ATF.
Emails went flying out to members of Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and even the National Rifle Association. GOA and FPC fired up their legal machines to prepare to sue over the letter. For the first time in a long time, all the gun-rights groups seemed to be on the same page and presented a united front against tyranny.
“This is a great victory,” Gun Owners of America’s Senior Vice President, Erich Pratt, told AmmoLand News, “And I am thankful for all the gun owners who issued their stinging rebukes to the ATF, to the many pro-gun journalists and YouTubers who helped sound the alarm, and to the 90 members of Congress who sent an opposition letter to the ATF. Gun owners will have to stay vigilant and watch these ATF bureaucrats closely. But for now, this is a wonderful early Christmas present.”
Even companies that aren’t gun-related took to social media to encourage their customers to write comments. Defender Coffee is a coffee company that recognized the right to keep and bear arms so much so that all profits are donated to pro-gun groups. They changed the links in their social media platforms to point to the registry where customers could post their comments about the ATF’s move.
Overall it was a victory, but we can not let our guard down now.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Read the last sentence of withdrawal letter. This is not a reversal as they are clearly stating that the retain the “right” to prosecute braced pistols as SBRs.
A victory – YES.
But they did not concede, just withdrew their proposal of offering “free” registration.
ATF is law enforcement stuck with enforcing fundamentally flawed laws. We can expect little logic in their approach to do so. Perhaps we can harness this enthusiasm toward improving NFA. Elimination remains the goal, but getting SBS and SBR delisted is far more achievable – for now.
All I see is they backed off on the notice and request for comments. That isn’t much of a victory. That just means they stopped listening and don’t give a damn about our opinions and we don’t get a notice. A victory would be them going away and having to find real jobs.
Call me cynical but I believe they simply chose a subject that would bring out the bulk of the pro gun voters to see how, through technology we would react. With this reaction now implement they will find ways to shut down this kind of pro-gun reaction in the future to quench our voices on each of the future attacks.
Feigned Retreat:
A feigned retreat is a tactic whereby an opposing force pretends to withdraw or to have been routed, in order to lure their enemy into a position of complacent vulnerability.
This position was seen as negative to the Georgia Senate race, after January 6th it will be on again
Hey ATF…make your life really simple. Take SBRs, SBSs and sound supressors off the table. Or do you just consider going after people who don’t pay a $200 “tax” stamp job security? Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to just hang around the office and watch porn videos on government computers? Better yet, all of you go and get honest jobs like the majority of Americans. One where you’re not a glorified welfare recipient.
Every chat forum, not only gun related but political ones covered this,too. Emails and texts from gun owners to gun owners. Memes. Word of mouth.
They backed off for now. Key words , “for now”. In the Biden/Harris administration, they will come back strong.
I am going go drink my non-sponsored coffee now….
Stand firm as a united front, let’s put aside our negative feelings towards any of the originations that are supporters of our Second amendment rights and face our enemy that is trying to limit our Constitutional rights and God given rights. Demand of our representatives in Congress to uphold the constitution as written or suffer the consequences of election. Last but not least, as the old saying goes we need to put our money where our mouth is in support of those organizations who are on the front lines of this fight.
Wanna’ get rid of this rogue agency? DEFUND THE BATFE!!!
If only everyone would have shown this much support for the bumpstocks.. That magic wave of hand of unlawful rule has set the precedence to allow the powers that be to do almost whatever they want.