U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- On March 22nd, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) released an open letter on “forced reset triggers” (“FRTs”) indicating that the agency’s position is that these triggers meet the definition of “machinegun” under federal law, and are, therefore “firearms” under both the Gun Control Act (“GCA”) and National Firearms Act (“NFA”). Under ATF’s new interpretation, these triggers are effectively prohibited due to the GCA’s prohibition on the new manufacture of machine guns for the commercial market.
While the open letter claims to apply to “some” FRTs, it is unclear what current design would not fall under ATF’s new interpretation.
Forced reset triggers operate by using the mechanical action of a semi-automatic firearm to forcibly reset the trigger, so it can be more quickly pulled by the user. This can result in a higher than the normally attainable rate of fire similar to bump firing.
ATF sent Rare Breed, a manufacturer of FRTs, a cease-and-desist letter in July 2021, claiming that the trigger met the GCA’s definition of “machinegun.”
Rare Breed filed suit in Florida. Rare Breed sought a TRO and a preliminary injunction to stop the agency from enforcing its application of the statute, but both were denied. The case was then dismissed without prejudice (meaning it could be refiled).
Because the case deals with ATF’s interpretation of the term “machine gun,” the result will likely rest on whether or not the Supreme Court reevaluates the deferential standard that federal courts apply when agencies interpret statutes they are charged with enforcing.
This deferential standard, often referred to as Chevron Deference because of a case of the same name, is wholly incompatible when applied to criminal statutes because it allows the government to turn once lawful conduct into a felony overnight.
The Supreme Court currently has several cases before it that would allow it to review Chevron. NRA filed an amicus brief in one of these cases that involved ATF’s reinterpretation of the definition of a machine gun as applied to bump fire stocks. That brief argues that for 200 years, the Supreme Court has consistently held that “the power to create crimes lies exclusively with Congress.” Thus, when criminal liability is on the line, “ATF’s position is ‘not relevant at all.”’
Until the Supreme Court reevaluates this deferential standard, gun owners, and all law-abiding Americans, will be stuck attempting to follow the whims of unelected federal bureaucrats.
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
Congress admitted they have no authority to ban machine guns from public ownership. The Hughes amendment is blatantly unconstitutional, repugnant to the Constitution and thus invalid. When Congressman Harold Knutson asked “why should we permit the manufacture, that is, permit the sale of the machine guns to any one outside of the several branches of the Government,” Congressman Sumners suggested “that this is a revenue measure and you have to make it possible at least in theory for these things to move in order to get internal revenue?” Id. at 13-14. Cummings agreed: “That is the answer exactly.” Id. at… Read more »
Nice piece of history revealed, here. Where can I read the entire transcript?
It won’t be long until the SOB’s classifies anything with a barrel a machine gun!
Why not? The barrel was made by a machine, wasn’t it? LOL
Oldman,that’s hilarious but hopefully not of things to come.
They’ve gotten away with claiming regulation is not infringement for far too long. Infringement comes WAY before bans and confiscation.
and the tax is a block for poor people,as intended,. these were jim crow laws
This is an example of government out of control. If they can’t get what they want one way they will manipulate things or change definitions or meanings to make it the way they want it. Charging someone to use a right is unconstitutional but it has become the American way when they don’t want you to have it and laws wont permit them to just say no. I am tired of fees, fees and more fees. This law needs to be changed. We have the same crap with OreGONE government. They cant charge a tax so they call it something… Read more »
Sort of like “rent” vs “property tax” on our homes. The COMMUNIST MANIFESTO says in the 1st plank…ABOLITION of all right to private property and the application of all rent to public purpose” Do you own your home? Well don’t pay the RENT ie Property tax and you’ll find out who owns it. And what is the PUBLIC PURPOSE? The 10th plank…”Free” education for all children in government schools”. … And if you want to read about the OTHER 8 Planks US equivalenthttps://www.educate-yourself.org/cn/communistmanifestortenplanks12sep06.shtml9…
The link had a 401 error, but I bet I could find it.
https://www.educate-yourself.org/cn/communistmanifestortenplanks12sep06.shtml
Sorry, that 19 shouldn’t be there. https://www.educate-yourself.org/cn/communistmanifestortenplanks12sep06.shtml
Well, with the exception of taking land away based on residency and who you vote for, looks like we have pretty much made it.
Scary thought.
I wish we could delete too.
For a limited time only.
They need to make these so we can delete them.
Perhaps you should mind your own business and quit telling people what they should or should not do. Your insults are just a reaffirmation of your total disregard of human decency.
Wow, that was an isult? I thought he was making a suggestion. I don’t really recognize this handle Barney. Oh well, so I look like and idiot, not the first time and not the last, I am sure. Thanks for caring.
Music,this clown has been insulting people and telling them what they should do all day. It just gets old.
Thanks for the heads up. What do you expect from a big purple dinosaur? lOL
Although this is absolutely none of your business, musicman44mag is currently in the process of finding another state to move to. Now why don’t you just leave.
I gave you a thumbs up. Perhaps is not part of the equation. I am waiting for obidens wonderful work to be near completion and when the bottom falls out we go into recession and cant get food gas is to high and houses are being repossessed I will make my move. In the mean time I am liquidating everything I don’t need while the economy is so obiden great and will re buy everything later at half the price I sold it for when the destruction of America plan is complete. I just hope the new gestapo boarder patrol… Read more »
This Sunday, 10 April, is the anniversary of the House passing the Hughes Amendment and one of the days when I fly my flag upside down. Ronald Reagan signed it into law on 19 May.
Good ol’ Ronnie. A real champion of freedom.
Hughes is a very weak in ATF’s mess of unconstitutional laws. It could easily be undone; and NRA should have fought it tooth and nail in 1986, rather than use machineguns as an expendable bargaining chip.
considering a machine gun is how you defeat superior numbers
And isn’t it interesting that WE THE PEOPLE can’t have them “legally” but all of King Georges enforcers can arm up with them as well as MRAPS, Humvees well anything you can imagine to make us into Battle Field America… https://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-America-War-American-People/dp/1590795229 In Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the follow-up to his award-winning book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead paints a terrifying portrait of a nation at war with itself and on the verge of undermining and destroying the basic freedoms guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution. Indeed,… Read more »
There is one other answer though it is a shot in the dark at this juncture. That people wake the hell up to the power of the Jury. Because ONE juror can hang the jury in a “felony” case. https://fija.org
Jury Nullification is one of the citizens strongest tools against unjust laws and the tyranny they afford.
Our so called government is organized crime at its finest and the ATF should be the ones on trial
Along with Uncle Joe kamalatoe obiden.
Don’t you mean Chairman Xiden of the CCP?
LoL. Then willy brown of kommiefornia must be missing his willy.
I was going for the head of the snake.
The largest crime syndicate in America is the Untied States government . The BATF is thier hit squad. They are the equivalent of Hitlers SS or brownshirts . Time we the American people stand up to these alphabet soup clowns and send them packing or eliminate them from our society all together as they are traitors . They do not uphold a oath to the constitution so they are not legal . Just government sponsored unconstitutional bullies is all they are . FJB
I bet that a similar statement was being made back at the time of the Revolution…but it went something like this…The largest crime syndicate in America is the government of Great Britian. The red coats are their hit squad. They are the equivalent of the lords or sheriff of Notingham . Time we the American people stand up to these swarms of officers and send them packing or eliminate them from our society all together as they are traitors . They do nothing but enforce unjust laws on the people of the Colonies. We need to aim small miss small… Read more »
You damn right they did. Then they shot them.
That is about seventy-five percent correct, but just out of curiosity … what is your point?
Montana,that’s a very accurate and informative comment. Take care.
Wow,so now I can buy a FRT trigger and have a machine gun? Cool. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get the switch into the third position for auto fire that doesn’t exist. No switch but fully auto? NOT!!!!!!! Next they will dream up binary trigger thoughts of being fully auto and making anyone with one a criminal breaking more government laws. Entrapment. CRAP, it’s all about the money, everything is. Look at pot. It has been illegal for years and when the states decided that they could make revenue from it they let it… Read more »
forced reset trigger and a rubber band is a machine gun they add parts as needed, next they will start going after all the ar platform. simple z shaped piece added makes them machineguns
Well the “law” does say “readily convertible”. And gee, what would it take to convert an AR 15 into an actual functioning machine gun except the parts and a half hour in a machine shop?
Here in Kommiefornia a while back a. Mendocino sheriffs deputy arbitrarily decided that a bolt on fin grip made a rifle too “readily convertible” into an evil assault rifle. (It was a Saiga AK74) The cop or the DA must’ve been in a generous mood that day because they offered to let the “perp” walk away without charges if he surrendered the offending rifle. I bet the deputies have good time with that rifle on their range days.
When my wife retires in a few months we do plan on escaping from CA. Should I include that information in any post I make regarding the absurdities that occur in the state on a regular basis?
and that’s how Biden’s ATF is gonna ban them IMO
and the parts can be ordered on line no ffl and a drill jig
Poor, poor ole Jerry Miculek. He is sure gonna miss his trigger finger when ATF comes a No-knock Knockin’ for it. Being attached to Jerry, does that make Jerry a machine gun?? Maybe he will get by with paying a $200 tax and having said finger engraved to please ATF and make our children and streets safer. Thank you, ATF for giving us our money’s worth. By the way, ATF. I have already cut off and destroyed all belt loops. Won’t be able to show you my hands…..holding my pants up. Hearing ATF is re-interpreting everything, ole Rover packed up… Read more »
If you FKH your penis may fall off.
The amount of alcohol required to even consider that would render the “equipment “ inactive.
Memebers of Congress have invested heavily in the “majajuana marketing” deals. There’s an article on it somehwere.
F atf and their extended families!
publish their home addresses
it may come to that
I read Unintended Consequences by John Ross a long time ago.
There is a lot of good history and other important information in that novel!
The road to HELL is paved with Good Intentions and white lined with Unintended Consequences.
“….it is unclear what current design would not fall under ATF’s new interpretation.” Never fear, ole Cordite Breath, should any design not fall under the ATF’s new interpretation, the ATF will promptly remedy that with a newer interpretation to fit newer agenda. ATF…here to serve and protect We The Little Peeps…..oos, my bad….politicians and Useful Idiots.
Long passed time for Patriots to re-interpret the ATF….OK, you win,….and politicians….. as tyrants.
“the power to create crimes lies exclusively with Congress.” WOW! And here I thought that crimes were an act that had a victim involved. But CONgress (heavy on the CON) can CREATE CRIMES. In another words they can say that wearing a hat that they don’t like is a crime. They can create whatever crime they want…Maybe we need to get rid of CONgress who seems to ignore the SUPREMECY clause of the Constitution continually. You know there part that says that ALL LAWS MUST BE MADE IN PURSUANCE OF THE CONSTITUTION! Which means folks, that SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED… Read more »
Here is a good one what do you call a pack of baboons (A CONGRESS) somi guess we have a bunch of baboons running the country. With animals like the atf making up laws and crimes out of thin air because we have a dictator that hates the people being armed in any manor, the time may soon pass that we either all become criminals or we stand up for what is right and takeca stand. The swamp monster biden is nothing more than a weak spinless earthworm of a person, he flips and flops with the wind. The biden… Read more »
ATF needs to stop dicking around with tje courts snd their liberal activist judges, and start applying pressure on our legoslators; especially Democrat legislators from gun-friendly states.
…
Not sure what ” tje courts ” are. Maybe “snd ” stands for send.
” legoslaters ” are the people that fasten together the little bricks that form the foundation of our liberties ( they must be republicans because later he states that Democrats actually have legislators with a capital “D’ even).