Honest citizens should enjoy the right to assemble their own firearms for lawful purposes, and they should be able to do so without being terrorized by their government.” — GOA’s Erich Pratt, AmmoLand, December 11, 2020.
USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- On Thursday, federal agents raided the headquarters of Polymer80, one of the largest manufacturers of homemade firearm accessories.
For years, Polymer80 has been producing “80% complete” lower receivers which the ATF determined to be incomplete and non-regulatable by the ATF as firearms. These receivers require holes to be drilled and surfaces filed before they become an actual, usable receiver, hence the term 80% receiver.
You might have heard an anti-gunner refer to a completed homemade firearm as a “ghost gun” before.
According to the ATF in numerous letters to Polymer80, their 80% receivers did not require a manufacturer’s license, the unconstitutional Pittman-Robertson tax, a serial number, or a NICS check before purchase.
Anti-gunners have been advocating for a ban on homemade firearms for years, even recently appealing to the Trump Administration.
Once again, the ATF appears to be reversing its longstanding interpretive guidance and is arbitrarily redefining a crucial term to enact a gun ban.
ATF is Expanding its Crackdown
AmmoLand News broke the news yesterday that ATF is raiding more companies than just Polymer80:
The ATF did raid or show up at other companies that sell other kits that include 80% part kits, barrels, and slides that are not Polymer80. AmmoLand News sources inside the ATF say that the agency is now considering 80% kits with all the parts needed to finish a pistol as a firearm. None of the companies had any warning on the change to ATF’s regulations before actual agents showed up making attempts to retrieve customer information.
Apparently, the ATF now considers an 80% lower receiver sold with a parts kit — such as the one offered by Polymer80 as a Buy Build Shoot Kit — to be a firearm requiring a background check. .
But the statute defining a firearm hasn’t changed.
What did change?
ATF is arbitrarily redefining firearms using interpretive guidance. Acting Director of the ATF Regina Lombardo must feel emboldened by the apparent victory of presidential candidate Joe Biden.
In November, she even began working early with the “Biden Transition Team.”
Her reported priorities? Pistol braces and 80% receivers.
But this is more than cooperating with a transition team. Lombardo has begun advancing the Biden-Harris gun control agenda during the Trump Administration!
Take action and tell President Trump to fire Acting Director of the ATF Regina Lombardo and her anti-gun subordinates responsible for this anti-Second Amendment attack on homemade firearms.
These anti-gunners have got to go!
In liberty,
Aidan Johnston
Director of Federal Affairs
Gun Owners of America
PS: If any readers have been contacted by ATF regarding 80% receivers or Polymer80 products please contact AmmoLand News.
About Gun Owners of America
GOA spokespeople are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America, and its sister organization Gun Owners Foundation, are nonprofits dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. For more information, visit GOA at www.gunowners.org.
Too many letter bureaucracies infringing on our rights. ATF is another that makes up the rules as they go. A gun without a number means nothing if it isn’t used in a crime.
The BATFE regulation changes are meaningless without armed government employees who are willing to engage in enforcement actions. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of such individuals.
2 words: ‘Unintended Consequences’.
BATFE has no legal right to exist under our US Constitution. BATFE has corrupted our 2nd Amendment, robbed, kidnapped, and murdered citizens. Wearing a BATFE jacket is same as wearing gang colors. Display of these gang colors in and of itself is a threat. I won’t be threatened. Nor will my dog. The rest of you ought to take the same tac.
DEFUND ATF!!!
We are not a nation of laws and we never have been. We are a nation of political will. Ambitious bureaucrats will kneel down to their new masters and do their bidding without so much as the laying of a whip. They already have. The federal bureaucracy is now in full (unionized) union with their new masters, the Harris/Biden regime and are already working hard to please their new masters. Folks, if you know people in federal law enforcement now is a good time to sever those relationships and start to run silent, run deep as far as what is… Read more »
The police in Denver protected the BLM/Antifa violent rioters who disrupted a pro-police rally. A red pill moment for Michelle Malkin.
Yet, many people believe it will be the Chinese, or the UN, or the pink haired loon down the street who will be enforcing the next round of gun control laws.
Police don’t respect the authority of BATFE Agent. BATFE Agent does not respect the authority of police. Hilarity ensues – tasing, handcuffing, hurt feelings, law suit:
https://radio.wosu.org/post/atf-agent-files-excessive-force-lawsuit-against-columbus-officers#stream/0
It would be interesting to know the story on the “illegally-held firearm” and the person holding it (law-abiding dentist or incendiary-device-throwing-America-hating violent rioter).
I have another possibly related situation to report. SGammo is now unwilling to ship ammo to Maine. They say the Maine IRS is demanding they change to some updated processing scheme that is out of reach for small companies, and they are demanding back payments on sales from before any internet sales taxes were imposed. Is the nationwide ammo shortage part of a bigger plan? Is this the next step to make sure Patriots have no ammo to resist a rogue government?