YouTubers Demand Congress Defend Gun Owners

MCX-Virtus004
The MCX pistol with folding brace is super compact and easy to carry. IMG Jim Grant

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of over 50 YouTuber personalities, including myself, has sent a letter to Congress demanding that they counteract the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) pistol brace rule.

The group is organized by Gun Owners of America (GOA) and calls itself the Second Amendment Action Alliance. The group has over 30 million combined followers. The letter was signed by some of the biggest stars in the gun world, including Jared Yanis from Guns and Gadgets, Tim Harmsen from the Military Arms Channel, and Eric Blandford of Iraqveteran8888.

The YouTubers want Congress to take on the ever-growing power of the ATF, which is poised to make millions of Americans felons overnight once the new rule on pistol-stabilizing devices kicks in on June 1, 2023. The new regulation was made at the urging of the Biden Administration and would reclassify almost all braced pistols as short-barreled rifles (SBR). Anyone caught with an unregistered SBR could be charged with violating the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), which could land a person in prison for ten years. This punishment is the same as having an illegal machine gun.

“Prior to the Biden Administration, ATF issued numerous interpretive guidance letters approving pistol braced weapons for manufacture, sale, and possession without additional restrictions, such as federal gun registration and fingerprinting. For nearly a decade, gun stores sold braced pistols and law abiding gun owners added them to their collections and home defense setups. Despite there being millions of braced pistols in common use around the country, there has been no statistically significant rise in violent crimes committed with these accessories. They do not make a firearm more dangerous,” the letter reads.

The group wants Congress to take up and pass H. J. Res. 44 and S. J. Res. 20. Those resolutions use the Congressional Review Act to disapprove the ATF’s regulation. Both resolutions have been introduced but have been stalled by the Republican leadership. Pressure from gun owners has failed to sway Republicans in Congress, who seem to have no appetite for passing pro-gun legislation.

“Whether by his calls to ban semiautomatic weapons or his multiple executive actions to ban homemade guns or pistol braces, President Biden has made it clear that he has no respect for the Second Amendment or the millions of citizens who cherish the right guaranteed by it,” said Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs for GOA. “We urge Speaker McCarthy to get H. J. Res. 44 to the floor and passed before ATF starts putting gun owners in jail for keeping their pistols on June 1st.”

The group also wants Congress to pass the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act. The proposed legislation would remove SBRs from the NFA. SBRs were added to the NFA when Congress attempted to ban handguns and viewed SBRs as a loophole to any handgun ban. The SHORT Act would also require the ATF to destroy any records of SBRs.

The final demand of the Second Amendment Action Alliance is to defund the ATF. The ATF has been increasingly hostile to gun owners, used its power to prosecute individuals for selling lightning link drawings, and increased revocations of federal firearms licenses (FFL) by 500%.

Some Republicans were unhappy to receive the letter and contacted GOA to complain about being put on the spot. The Second Amendment Action Alliance believes that these politicians should be placed on the spot, and if they refuse to back gun rights, that should be known to the gun community.

A companion organization called the No Compromise Alliance consisting of gun industry members such as Kahr Arms and Classic Firearms, also sent a letter to Congress echoing many of the same demands.

View the letter here!


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.

John Crump

John Crump
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ArchangelImperialCriDemp

30 million followers and Including the 30+ million who watch and don’t follow.
Theres always double/ triple the amount not following.

DIYinSTL

Yep. No facebook, youtube, twitter, truthsocial, etc. accounts for me. But I do catch most of what a half dozen youtubers post. Does Ammoland or arfcom really count as social media? Not by me.

Roverray

I would like to see the list of RINO’s whom said “l don’t like being put on the spot” the lazy politicians better do what they are paid to do and not be a little bitch about it! Cheese and rice, is congress going to let the ATF get away of writing law, if so, they can turn in their resignation. Hopefully they will fight and cut the ATF’s operating budget by 2/3’s and if they want to see anymore money they need to quit these reneging rule changes and raid gangbangers whom are actually hurting someone. And no more… Read more »

Roland T. Gunner

As long as their mandate is not passed on to the corrupt FBI or other law enforcement.

PMinFl

The sad part is that they ARE doing what they’re paid for, only not paid for by regular taxpayers.

Bigfootbob

It’s time for every gun owner to fight. Start talking to your family, friends and neighbors about the loss of Liberty and encourage the people who think voting is a waste of time. It’s not. They only way back is when good people get engaged and we overcome the cheat with sheer numbers.

J.galt

The cheat IS the problem. The fact that the washington generals lay down and go along with the illusion of election when they are cheating right in front of you and telling you to ignore what your lying eyes are seeing. This is the problem There will never be another “free election” the 2024 election was lost when fox settled with dominion. The only way we win going forward is with such unexpectedly high turn out that they can not over come the numbers……like by not pre printing enough fake ballots….…and then they will shift to courts (which will protect… Read more »

Ledesma

Defense is a matter of perspective. I’m starting to like the song “they shall overcome”.

BigRed

This is good, but the biggest danger is red flag laws and universal background checks. It would be nice to see theae guys get together on that. These are insideous and much wider ranging problems that will be used by the government to restrict who they feel comfortable with owning firearms…they will add to the illegal unconstitutional background check system incrementally every year until you have to pass one every year at great expense and hassle to even own the firearms you already have…they are already trying to pass stuff like this places like colorado. Until basically, only the rich… Read more »

Roland T. Gunner

I don’t know about “biggest” danger, but big danger certainly. And it is part of a larger problem of our courts’ willingness to allow government, primarily via a search warrant, into our homes. The sanctity of the home from government has been allowed to fade over the years. Judges routinely rubber stamp warrants for law enforcement, especially federal law enforcement. It shoukd be extraordinarily difficult to obtain a sesrch warrant for a person’s residence. No exigent life-or-death corcumstance? No warrant and no entry. Stolen hub caps? Minor crime, no warrant. Bag of pot, a week ago? He smoked ot already,… Read more »

Boz

Fatf.

FL-GA

No one, including the ATF, has been able or willing to tell me why the SBR classification exists. It seems to me that SBRs were originally considered concealable, like handguns, and banned like handguns. Then handguns were removed from the ban, but SBRs were left in. Easiest thing would be to call SBRs handguns, and treat them as such, (No sales to out-of-state residents, shipping restrictions, age requirements, etc.) Although I don’t agree with any of the restrictions, it would be a start, and would arguably have some logic to the ruling. Unfortunately, logic and politics are almost universally incompatible.

moe mensale

The easiest thing would be to just remove SBRs – and SBSs and silencers – from the NFA’s purview. I’m willing to bet there wouldn’t be any change in the national crime statistics.