I know I'm either preaching to the choir here or talking past people who don't want to hear it, but I felt something needed to be said tonight.

Tomorrow marks the second time in just half a decade a federal agency has arbitrarily decided that something they said was legal for years suddenly makes you a felon.

Not if you commit a crime with it. Simply for possessing an item that they had multiple chances to say "no, that's not okay" when the issue was brought to them. But they did say it was okay, for years. They were asked repeatedly and kept saying it was okay. Until one day it wasn't. No law passed by your chosen representatives. No debates, no compromises. Now you can either register, surrender/destroy, or become a felon.

You may not give two rips about bump stocks (I never bothered to buy one and thought they were pretty lame). You may not care about braces (braces are crappy substitutes for stocks and I tended to SBR instead before this mess). That's certainly your prerogative.

I do hope that even if you don't care about either, you paid enough attention in civics/govt classes to be concerned with what kind of precedents this sets, and what it potentially means for our relationship as citizens to our government moving forward and into our kids and grandkids time.

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

That's a link where you can at least email your congress critters and ask them why on earth they are okay with a federal agency doing something that should be 100% a matter for the people's representatives. I'm not asking you to post pictures of your braced guns, scream "eff the govt" and get your dogs shot here, but remaining silent while something of this magnitude happens feels.....wrong to me. I hope some of yall feel the same and will at a minimum engage a tad in the democrat process, because the type of people who prefer to make overnight felons for silly stuff like pieces of plastic are unlikely to just stop there.

Quote:

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First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak outbecause I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak outbecause I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outbecause I was not a Jew.

Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak for me.

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It's bull****e

Well said. Great points!


Do you, or anyone else, have some suggested language or things that should be referenced for people who may want to now write (as you suggested), but don't know the finer points to make a good argument?

I think there are a bunch of people on here that might benefit from a suggested paragraph or two.

Language warning in the following commentary on all this, but it's spot on.

Me? I keep track of things and make my decisions accordingly. But there are a lot of gun owning Americans who aren't on things like gun related forums, don't keep track of law changes, and will have zero idea this even happened, because it darn sure isn't going to show up on their local nightly news. It was legal when they bought it and they are going to continue on with life assuming the same rules apply. Some poor innocent soul is going to get their life absolutely destroyed because they don't keep up with firearms news someday. That's not okay.

cupofjoe04 said:

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Well said. Great points!


Do you, or anyone else, have some suggested language or things that should be referenced for people who may want to now write (as you suggested), but don't know the finer points to make a good argument?

I think there are a bunch of people on here that might benefit from a suggested paragraph or two.

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Thank you for wanting to speak up!

Paragraphs two and three of my post would be a decent starting point.

A federal bureaucracy is making millions of law abiding citizens felons for owning something they repeatedly and specifically said was legal for years, and usurping Congressional authority to make laws while they're at it.

I know Congress doesn't give an F about us, but you'd think they'd at least guard their own power a little more jealously.....

To Whom It May Concern:

As you well know, on February 1st the ATF will turn millions of law abiding citizens into federal felons when they issue their recent ruling on pistol stabilizing braces now being considered stocks and thus subject to the 1934 NFA.

Stabilizing braces have long been ruled to not fall under the oppressive 1934 NFA, and there are millions - estimates up to 30 million - that are currently owned and have been owned by law abiding citizens for decades. The change in ruling - done by unelected bureaucrats at an agency that The People have no recourse against - has the same effect as legislation passed by Congress - including the possbility of prison time as well as financial hardship, but there has been no congressional debate on this issue and the People have not been represented as required by the Constitution.

I request that Congress immediately declare this ruling null and void and that if the ATF wants to pursue this ruling further, they must do so through the congressional process and a formal vote must be held by Congress.

Sincerely,

A law abiding gun owner and registered voter citizen

Our leaders are teabagging the constitution. The words "shall not be infringed" carry no weight these days it seems.

This is way better than

"Hey *******, **** you!"

I will rewrite my letter.

Sorry if this derails thread but this kind of heavy handed government action has happened before.

Another democrat president Roosevelt - back in the day he made owning gold illegal overnight. My great grandparents had to turn in all gold or risk going to jail via being ratted out by a "friend". They used to tell stories and show pictures of the beautiful coins, earrings, broaches, rings, necklaces and other jewelry they owned to me when I was little. They were so in love with each other and would buy gold jewelry for each other to remember events.


Now I collect those type of pieces that made it as they truly are special. Below is an example of gold I recently picked up that I can't believe made it. - not from my family but I am sure you will recognize where it is from. 1931 Texas a&m International meat judging team.

I'll restate this again….if the atf was really concerned about gun violence and killings they would saturate the top 10 cities in the US for homicides and target all the gun crime.

Government doesn't represent its people anymore. It's a vehicle to allow politicians to posture for the next election.

One of my reps is Cornyn, good luck getting that RINO to fight for anything. I'll send a letter though, so I can say I tried.

Thanks OP for the suggestions.

whoop1995 said:

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Sorry if this derails thread but this kind of heavy handed government action has happened before.

Another democrat president Roosevelt - back in the day he made owning gold illegal overnight. My great grandparents had to turn in all gold or risk going to jail via being ratted out by a "friend". They used to tell stories and show pictures of the beautiful coins, earrings, broaches, rings, necklaces and other jewelry they owned to me when I was little. They were so in love with each other and would buy gold jewelry for each other to remember events.


Now I collect those type of pieces that made it as they truly are special. Below is an example of gold I recently picked up that I can't believe made it. - not from my family but I am sure you will recognize where it is from. 1931 Texas a&m International meat judging team.

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I'm not here to defend government overreach, but jewelry and rare coins were exempted from Roosevelt's EO.

And that order was very, very different than what the ATF has done here. At least Roosevelt had a nominal purpose (note: I disagree with what he did) and was accountable to the voter, unlike the ATF bureaucrats.

schmellba99 said:

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To Whom It May Concern:

As you well know, on February 1st the ATF will turn millions of law abiding citizens into federal felons when they issue their recent ruling on pistol stabilizing braces now being considered stocks and thus subject to the 1934 NFA.

Stabilizing braces have long been ruled to not fall under the oppressive 1934 NFA, and there are millions - estimates up to 30 million - that are currently owned and have been owned by law abiding citizens for decades. The change in ruling - done by unelected bureaucrats at an agency that The People have no recourse against - has the same effect as legislation passed by Congress - including the possbility of prison time as well as financial hardship, but there has been no congressional debate on this issue and the People have not been represented as required by the Constitution.

I request that Congress immediately declare this ruling null and void and that if the ATF wants to pursue this ruling further, they must do so through the congressional process and a formal vote must be held by Congress.

Sincerely,

A law abiding gun owner and registered voter citizen

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Bender, Schmellba,

Thank you guys for highlighting this issue, pointing to a tangible step we can take, and providing some guidance.

I emailed all 3 of my rep's. Hopefully they will at a minimum try to protect their own power. What chaps me the most is that the ATF seems to be able to pass rulings that carry the same force as law, without any representation, review, vote, or recourse by the people. This is disgusting.

If you've been following the Polymer80 / Ghost Gun saga over the past few years - this was no surprise. They telegraphed their intentions loud and clear 2+ years prior. They did the same thing there - multiple letters said the 80% pistol lowers were ok...then they weren't.

Everytown published a report recently that showed that home made firearms were not actually the huge problem they said. (By the numbers...the report still was full of ghost gun hysteria). The "problem" is semi automatic pistols from name brand manufacturers. Glock being the largest of the "problems"

https://everytownresearch.org/report/city-level-data-crime-gun-recoveries/

A few more data points - the increased concern about Glock switches, Biden's call for all semi autos to be banned, and the Rare Breed Trigger ban.

Two years - max. If they get away with this, they will try to ban Glock style handguns because they can be readily modified to be full auto. And that's the plan to eventually ban AR-15's - guaranteed.

It's the same trajectory. And it will happen via ATF fiat.

**** the feds

over

and

over

and

over

Very well said and thanks for taking the time. So many times when issues like this are brought up on the OB we get " Take it to the Politics Board!" comments.
As hunters, gun enthusiasts, etc. I feel it is our responsibility to educate our fellow gun owners on events such as these.... to make them aware of what's happening.... as oftentimes they are "casual" gun owners who may not be aware anything is going on.
These laws are NOT designed to save lives....
they are just the cloak Of deception to eventually disarm us for control.
Someday, I fear, we will be forced to fight again for these freedoms.
Strength is in numbers and contacting your reps and congressmen is a front line effort that can be very effective.
I would also suggest belonging and participating in whatever pro gun organization suits you.... NRA, Guns America, TSRA..... whatever.... but be involved somehow.
It's our freedoms to lose.

highvelocity said:

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**** the feds

over

and

over

and

over

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In the ear, or somewhere equally painful

I don't own anything on an AR platform and don't particularly care about the utility of stabilizing braces or bump stocks. But, I will absolutely, 100% defend our rights to own & use them without this disgusting, impermissible, unconstitutional, and unconscionable assault on our individual liberty.

There is quite literally zero public safety or public health rationale behind these bans other than control. And considering the fact that the ban on bump stocks has already been struck down in court there's no justification for the ban on stabilizing braces either.

Come and take it