MARTINSBURG, WV –-(Ammoland.com)-Did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) determine that the Rare Breed FRT-15 was a machine gun before The Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD) even had a chance to examine it?
On January 13, 2021, Intelligence Research Specialist (IRS) Rob Lopez sent an email including a RecoilTV YouTube video to Firearms Enforcement Officer (FEO) James Barlow. Rob Lopez found the video on a 4Chan message board thread. Barlow has not looked at the FRT-15 but copied embattled FEO Daniel Hoffman on the email. He believed that Hoffman had looked into the trigger.
Lopez asked Hoffman if the trigger would be a National Firearms Act (NFA) item. Hoffman wrote Lopez back informing him that the ATF Firearms Technology Industry Services Branch (FTISB) would likely consider Rare Breed FRT-15 a machinegun. Still, the department would need one before officially proclaiming the device a machinegun. Lopez asked if a case had been opened, but Hoffman did not know if there was an open investigation into the company.
On April 1, 2021, IRS Lopez also contacted Special Agent (SA) Michael Nuttal of the Tampa Field Office to inform the office about the Rare Breed website, which he believed was selling machine guns. The two men discussed options and decided to contact the Firearms Technology Criminal Branch (FTCB).
FATD did not move on the trigger until Lopez once again contacted Hoffman again on April 1, 2021. Lopez wanted to know if FATD received a Rare Breed FRT-15 for the determination. Lopez claimed that several concerned citizens had contacted the ATF about Rare Breed selling machine guns online. Lopez wanted to move forward and write a “lead” for the Tampa Field Office.
Hoffman told Lopez that the ATF did not have the trigger to examine. Hoffman did point Lopez to FEO David Smith with the FTCB, who read the patent information for the FRT-15. Smith is the FEO that eventually examined and determined that the trigger was a machine gun. But Smith’s reply email seems to insinuate that his mind was already made up.
Smith’s email reads: “Attached is the original US Patent #10514223, and the evaluation letter #307385 on at least the 1st generation of this device by the inventor. This device was classified as a combination of parts designed and intended to convert a weapon into a machinegun, and therefore a ‘machinegun’ under the NFA.”
Eight days later, on April 9, 2021, Smith would double down on his opinion that the Rare Breed FRT-15 was a machine gun in an email back to Lopez. Smith needed help getting a sample to test to rule that the trigger device was a machine gun officially. He said that FATD believes that it appears that the FRT-15 is a machine gun. Lopez informed Smith that the ATF was on a waitlist to acquire the trigger.
Smith’s email reads: “Is there anything you want us to include in the report? I will most likely use a lot of the language from the examination back in 2018. I will also include that based on your review from the blueprints, pictures and video, FATD believes it appears to be a machinegun BUT FATD will physically need to examine the trigger to make an official determination.”
On May 24, 2021, Smith suggested that if Lopez was still having issues getting the trigger from Rare Breed itself, the ATF should buy one off the secondary market and sent a link from Gun Broker. A suggestion Lopez took and purchased a trigger from a third-party website. At the same time, the trigger became available on the Rare Breed website. For some reason, the ATF could not complete the transaction through the Rare Breed site, so it relied on the secondary market only.
Lopez shipped the trigger to FATD via Fed Ex on June 2, and the Rare Breed FRT-15 arrived at the ATF Martinsburg location on June 4. Smith tested the trigger and reached the same conclusion that he and others in the ATF said he would even before examining the trigger. The Rare Breed FRT-15 is a machine gun.
On July 26, Special Agent (SA) Nuttal of the Tampa Field Office served a Cease-and-Desist order on Rare Breed, ordering the company to stop selling the triggers. The company has refused to comply with the ATF’s Demands. Rare Breed filed for an ex parte temporary restraining order (TRO) against the ATF, but the courts rejected the request.
On August 3, the company’s owner and attorney Kevin Maxwell filed for an injunction against the ATF in the Middle District Court of Florida. Rare Breed triggers remain on sale throughout the internet because the Cease-and-Desist only applies to Rare Breed, although this is highly likely to change.
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.
RARE BREED ARE PATRIOTS! GET BEHIND THEM! NUFF SAID!
Rare Breed Triggers’ Lawrence DeMonico Statement on the ATF’s Cease an – The Infidel Co
I would prepay for a trigger if there was an option to do so. Shipping to be done after they win.
I read the company owner is defending the company himself. I’m not sure that’s a good idea but his answer and arguments are very good and better than a lot of ones I’ve seen from lawyers.
owner IS a lawyer and gun advocate ; strange breed all the lawyers i know are anti gun and funny with all the riots had one ,has talked shit to me ask if i would protect them if the riots got worse told him to buy a gun
He may be a great lawyer. BUT…
Abraham Lincoln Said: “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
Lawyers love that argument, but it was a very different time before the legal priesthood metastasized beyond reason. Nowadays it’s common for your own lawyer to charge you $500-$1000 an hour for the privilege of neglecting & betraying you. This attorney-CEO may well do fine. At least he will rep himself in good faith.
And HE got assassinated by a cap and ball pistol while watching a play… So, if the ATF wants to ban anything…
Do you understand what “Ex-Post Facto” is all about?
i’m wondering who these concerned citizens that contacted lopez are? can this be subject of a foia?
another bureaucrat that wants to enforce their feelings instead doing an investigation to determine if “law” was violated. the nfa itself is a violation of law.
bureaucracies exist only to accumulate power and wield that power over citizens.
Have you read GSteele’s comment yet? He’s the exact type of concerned citizen.
Is anyone surprised by the governments’ actions??
What? You mean giving 86.5 BILLION of OUR tax dollars in combat arms to the enemy?
So any trigger that has a short quick would be a machine-gun. BS
“On May 24, 2021, Smith suggested that if Lopez was still having issues getting the trigger from Rare Breed itself, the ATF should buy one off the secondary market and sent a link from Gun Broker. A suggestion Lopez took and purchased a trigger from a third-party website. At the same time, the trigger became available on the Rare Breed website. For some reason, the ATF could not complete the transaction through the Rare Breed site, so it relied on the secondary market only.” It would be a shame if someone in the gun community could compile a list of… Read more »
The 2018 patent was determined to be a machine gun by atf in 2018, and the only difference bw that and the new model is a flat hammer and a hump on the trigger. The former model used a normal curved hammer and a flat trigger, raised slightly to contact the back of the hammer and force a reset. That determination was incorrect, as is the current one, as a conscious release and reapplication of force on the trigger is required to operate it; constant set pressure on the trigger will not work, nor will holding the trigger back like… Read more »
The Rare Breed FRT-15 is no more a “machine gun” than a Tampon!
If anyone has a video of a rapid fire tampon?
I’d like to see that. Please post it.
(1) Belt Fed Toy Guns – Bing images
Haven’t found the video just yet… But this should keep you occupied for a bit. This nerf gun shoots tampons- and yours probably can too! : Nerf (reddit.com)
No kidding. Did you have trouble reading what I wrote? I said it was falsely determined to be a machine gun in both instances of patent and design. However, the fact they produced it using a design ALREADY determined to be a machine gun by the f squad sets them up for a huge lawsuit from customers. By the law, wrong as it is, ATF’s previous determination on the 2018 design means rare breed knowingly manufactured and sold a machine gun, even though any idiot can see it isn’t a machine gun per statute.
According to the Bill of Rights and the SCOTUS case on the NFA, U.S. v. Miller (1939), firearms befitting and beneficial to a militia are protected from government infringement, so yes, every citizen should indeed possess and be well trained in the use of their machine guns. The better to defend life, liberty and property from any who would take it, including most especially a tyrannical overreaching government.
I will guess that not only can you NOT place shots with surgical precision, but that you don’t even know the 6 letter word for the end of the firearm that the bullet comes out of!
Care to prove me wrong by typing that magic 6 letter word?
ONLY Mr Scharf answer please. It is obvious that all of us on this forum know that word. But I’m betting that Mr Scarf does not, and that his best friend goggle will not be able to help him!
Just? Some opinions are right, some wrong, some intentionally wrong – in bad faith subversion of the Constitution or statutes.
And that’s not just my opinion.
Your Scharts are more common than hydrogen.
Projection becomes you.
“Why mention the militia in the Second Amendment? In what way did it ever reduce ambiguity.” Well, you left out the question mark in order to increase the ambiguity, but I’ll answer it anyway. The militia is mentioned because the militia is any man or woman who cares to show up to protect their community in an emergency. As such, it becomes obvious even to a moron that they must have their own arms, since nobody will be there to equip them. The minutemen were just one such. Available to show up in one minute. No military can ever muster… Read more »
Thx Tex.
I’m just trying to get a tiny bit of thought out of Mr scarf, but he simply will not stop cutting and pasting long enough for his poor brain to turn over once or twice. Oh well. At least I made the attempt.
The sad part is, I’m sincerely trying to help him. So very confused, yet bound and determined to remain so forever. Pitiful. Downright pitiful… 🙂
Has your buddy goggle managed to come up with a six letter word for the dangerous end yet??? 🙂
So what is a six letter word for a firearm’s dangerous end? Mr. “I shoot with surgical precision”… NOT 🙂
WTF? It was a statement. Had absolutely nothing to do with what you said?
A gun is either a machinegun, or it is not. This trigger is blatantly not. I honestly do not understand how ATF aa an organization and its individual members can continue to attempt this sort of fraud on citizens
Whatever one’s view on this trigger – an administration which provided billions of dollars worth of advanced military weaponry to a terrorist organization, has zero moral authority to speak on “gun safety” much less impose rules on the rest of us.
Only way they can enforce any new rules is through force of arms, further delegitimizing their authority and justifying violent noncompliance.
Because The People will cower because someone that “thinks” they have power over us said so and they know the people will lay down as soon as they see a badge or a uniform.
“Several concerned citizens had contacted ATF about Rsre Breed selling machineguns online” ? No, they did not. I really doubt half a dozen soccer moms sitting at their laptops watching girl-friendly soft porn, waiting on the schoolbus, just stumble across the Rare Breed trigger on Youtube, got scared, and tracked down a human at ATF to talk to.
The Fat Guy bump firing the pistol.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fat+guy+bump+firing+a+pistol&qpvt=fat+guy+bump+firing+a+pistol&view=detail&mid=66F3235A3CA51E1AB82666F3235A3CA51E1AB826&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dfat%2Bguy%2Bbump%2Bfiring%2Ba%2Bpistol%26qpvt%3Dfat%2Bguy%2Bbump%2Bfiring%2Ba%2Bpistol%26FORM%3DVDRE
What caliber is it? How do you load it? Where’s the sights? And, most important of all, will it take Glock clipazines?
it uses Godzilla clips
The BATFE should have had its wings clipped a long time ago. Republicans run on being “pro 2nd Amendment,” but then don’t act that way when they are elected. As the BATFE gained power, they became more abusive. That could have ended in the 80s, but it didn’t. It should have ended in 2017, but it didn’t. Some Republican firearm owners screeched at anyone who criticized Trump for ordering the BATFE to classify bump stocks as machine guns. They first said Trump didn’t do it – that the BATFE was a “rogue agency.” When the presidential memorandum was produced, those… Read more »
What a bunch of nice guys: “Veterans for Gun Reform do not want to ban all weapons and use of guns.”
https://vetsforgunreform.com/
The water is boiling and we are all jumping out. America is a powder keg ready to blow, yet the politicians and executive branch agencies keep adding kindling.
Politicians
The administrative state
Enforcers
And too many otherwise laudable veterans who fight overseas but do nothing to save THIS country HERE, or even work to destroy it.
Veterans have organized to lobby for Chipman’s appointment:
https://www.bradyunited.org/program/veterans-for-gun-reform
“United as veterans, we will make our families, communities, and country safer with common-sense gun safety measures. Sign up to join our movement.”
The organized, activist veterans are busy:
“URGENT: TELL THE SENATE TO CONFIRM DAVID CHIPMAN TO LEAD THE ATF
The ATF needs strong leadership to enforce our nation’s gun laws and regulate the gun industry.”
Show us PROOF that these are in fact VETERANS… Let’s see some DD-214’s of the HONORABLE and GENERAL type!
You want me to prove it? Get off your apathetic ass and contact one of your stolen valor organizations to check into it. Why do you find it so hard to be believe there are veterans who despise (or despised while they were alive) the 2nd Amendment? Most veterans who become U.S. legislators are anti 2nd Amendment. A couple famous ones who didn’t go into poliltics: Stanley McChrystal David Petraeus An extremely small sampling of ones who did go into politics: Jake Auchincloss Sandford Bishop Jr. George W. Bush Tom Cotton Richard Blumenthal Pete Buttigieg Dan Crenshaw Cal Cunningham Tammy… Read more »
Chatroom Commandos are more keen on Tiger Talking than DOING ANYTHING HERE, than sacrificing to save THIS country.
Dave Baril has served in the US Marine Corps for over 18 years, deployed twice to Iraq, and is a gun owner.
But after a teenager killed 17 people in Florida last month — the deadliest school shooting to hit the country in over five years — he took his personal AR-15 rifle to a local police station and turned it in for destruction.
https://full.gulf-times.com/story/584320/US-veterans-join-forces-for-gun-reform
This is FRAUD to high hell! 100% of Veterans that I know, and that’s in the thousands, LOVE their guns and will NEVER soft-soak the reality of citizens RIGHTS to KEEPING and BEARING ARMS to defend the Constitution AGAINST ALL ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC!
Won’t they? What are they doing about it besides Tiger Talking? Are they sacrificing HERE, at home, in any real way, to save THIS country? What are YOU doing besides posting? He’s asked repeatedly where’s the Veteran’s group against Chimpmunk. Where is it?
Well sit down with just a dozen of them and form a group and send an open letter to Tester opposing Chipman’s nomination.
Quit talking and do it.
Here’s a whole bunch of anti 2nd Amendment veterans:
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/combat-veterans-push-for-gun-reform-this-isn-t-right-1.513590
The organization was founded by three Marines – ooh-rah!
“Veterans for Gun Reform was founded in 2017 by Marine Corps combat veteran and decorated Cobra helicopter gunship pilot Dr. Kyleanne Hunter, Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel veteran Joe Plenzler, and Marine Corps Colonel combat veteran Craig Tucker.”
https://www.bradyunited.org/program/veterans-for-gun-reform/about
The filters/mods are not letting me post any more examples, but these three Marines founded Veterans for Gun Reform:
Dr. Kyleanne Hunter
Joe Plenzler
Craig Tucker
LMAO – the mod veterans have censored me from providing you more examples.
What a joke.
MAYBE if I WRITE like a MARINE it WILL go THROUGH!!!!!!
https://www.bradyunited.org/program/veterans-for-gun-reform/about
USMC0351Grunt:
Here are some more anti-2nd Amendment veterans who are U.S. legislators whom you should meet:
Brian Mast
Seth Moulton
Troy Nehls
Jimmy Panetta
Bill Pascrell
There are more.
Here’s some more U.S. legislators who are veterans who are anti 2nd Amendment: Anthony Brown George Kenneth Butterfield Jr. Salud Carbajal Jason Crow Peter DeFazio Ruben Gallego The common theme among all the vocal veteran anti-2nd Amendment activists is: I’m a veteran, so I know what I’m talking about when it comes to guns, and trust me – we need more gun control. I’ll give you more examples tomorrow – there are lots and lots of them. Make sure you go read about the three marines who founded veterans for gun reform. They’re heroes – they will go to some length… Read more »
USMC0351Grunt:
Let me introduce you to some more anti-2nd Amendment veterans who are U.S. legislators:
Brian Babin
Don Bacon
Jim Baird
Vern Buchanan
Andrew Clyde
Jared Golden
Brett Guthrie
Chrissy Houlahan
There are more.
USMC0351Grunt:
Here are some more anti-2nd Amendment veterans who are U.S. legislators whom you should meet:
Kaiali’i Kahele
Adam Kinzinger
Conor Lamb
Ted Lieu
Barry Loudermilk
Elaine Luria
There are more.
USMC0351Grunt:
Here are some more anti-2nd Amendment veterans who are U.S. legislators whom you should meet:
Scott Perry
Bobby Rush
Gregorio Kilili Sablan
Bobby Scott
Mikie Sherrill
There are more.
Yep, celebrity-worship has consequences.
P.S. You misspelled Lucifer.
Yeah, don’t look too close – spelling errors, missing words, punctuation errors, other grammar errors, use of inappropriate words because I’m too polite . . . my writing defects are legion.
The ATFE makes up the rules as they go along! If they don’t like it, they rule against it! Time to completely DEFUND this ROGUE agency and get rid of all of their employees, not carry them over!!!
They have repeatedly stated “they will k now it when they see it”
That’s because MOST citizens, WE, The Sheeple have been on their knees, “humbly requesting” and haven’t been demanding our “representatives” to do otherwise.
The more we have the “machine gun” conversation, the more we lose our rights.
HLB
Tex, classifying AR’s as machine guns is already in motion, through litigation and the redefining of “receiver” and “readily” in the proposed rule change. Lawsuits are already claiming gun manufacturers are selling machine guns since AR’s can be modified. And the redefinitions in the atf proposal that closed comment period yesterday would also change the definition of a machine gun to include all semiautomatics, not just AR’s, as ANY semiauto can be modified into a full auto within an 8 hour workday with access to a fully functional machine shop. That is the new definition of “readily” according to the… Read more »
Then under the same logic, ALL automobiles must be registered as WMD’s as they can ALL be converted into car bombs.
Most of the arguments below are moot. The videos on the Rare Breed website extol automatic fire with their trigger. The problem is of their own making. If they wish it to be seen as a semi-auto trigger, they should demonstrate semi-auto fire – not burst fire, however achieved, as they do on their web site. Either the ATF is empowered, legally, to constrain the sale of weapons that fire rapidly and repeatedly as shown on the RB website or it is not. I think BATFE should be dissolved, but that’s not the issue. If they are legally empowered to… Read more »
Another opinion that it looks like a machinegun so it’s a machinegun. Your argument that the product might be used by criminals..Lol. Do you mean like everything else? From cars to hammers! Well everything that appears dangerous should be pulled off the market! It’s your type of thinking that has destroyed this country. Let’s do it! Anything a criminal might use in the act of a crime should be pulled off the market!! Sure, you can still rent a hammer at Home Depot once you’ve filled out the proper paperwork. Go back to Sheepville. Remember Sheep, the FEMA bus will… Read more »
Do none of you trolls actually read the actual post from people? I don’t think a lot of you comprehend what you are reading. GSteele has valid info. He’s not saying it’s a machine gun. He’s saying that perception is everything. The video makes it look like one. He also states that we should be allowed to have them (machine guns). We know criminals are criminals. Can’t change that until we get rid of every liberal in the country. I think we have a new home for these liberals. It’s call Talibanistan (formerly Afganistán) People. Please slow down and read… Read more »
He implies thwarting this thwarts rule of law. BS. What ATF does is illegal, unconscionable & tyrannical by statute, constitution & “natural law”. He puts regulatory-admin gun law by decree (at least in practice largely unconstitutional) & statutory gun law (mostly unconstitutional) over the Constitution. OBEY or be an anarchist. Maybe directly or indirectly infected with the ‘Christian’ misrep of Romans 13. It’s our right & duty to disobey & overturn tyranny, as Mayhew clarifies in a 1750 sermon enabling the American Rev0lution.
He then makes gun grabber arguments, ignoring first principles of liberty & 2A.
Incorrect, they extol a high cyclic rate, which has absolutely NO bearing on whether an item is a machine gun, and is not even a consideration in the definition by statute of what comprises a machine gun.
“that would be made widely available across the drug gang-fueled shooting galleries that are Chicago, Baltimore, LA, etc. etc”
…and yet not a peep from the streets!?