“Florida has more gun manufacturers than any other state except Texas,” naplesnews.com reports, “after a surge of nearly 350 percent in licenses for gun makers fueled by the nation’s growing demand for firearms.” And this is a problem because . . .
The increase in gun manufacturing licenses since 2009 has strained the resources of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — the federal law enforcement agency that monitors the nation’s gun sales and distribution. As the number of licenses to make firearms grew nationally by nearly 250 percent from 3,040 licenses in 2009 to 10,503 last year, the number of special agents watching manufacturers has increased only 30 percent, from 623 in 2009 to 811 in 2015.
And this is a problem because . . .
The spike in the number of gun makers in Florida and elsewhere piles more work on the agency and leaves many manufacturers unchecked for years by federal agents who try to ensure firearms are documented and made properly.
“I hate to say this, but they’ve adopted a sort of triage method that goes after the bigger gun dealers — the guys out there who may be more likely to get in trouble,” retired ATF special agent David Chipman said. “They’re not going to pay attention to those smaller guys making a handful of guns here and there.”
“Pay attention” in what sense? Wait for evidence of criminal behavior then investigate or descend on a gunmaker like the proverbial plague to make sure they’re not engaging in criminal behavior? Your guess is as good as mine.
In California, which has the nation’s third-most firearm manufacturing licenses at 526, enthusiasts find parts with ease, turning production of high-power rifles into social events. That trend is eroding the control the ATF had on the gun manufacturing industry, said Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of the book “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.”
“You have clubs out here that get together to have AR-15 building parties — that’s how easy it is to find parts these days,” Winkler said. “You no longer have to be an ironsmith to put these guns together.”
Wait. Are journalist Arek Sarkissian and go-to anti-gun guy Adam Winkler suggesting that “build parties” for “high-powered” rifles at a licensed manufacturer’s digs are illegal? Some kind of conspiracy to end-run federal regulations? Yes, that’s what they’re suggesting. Are these activities illegal? Part of a conspiracy? No they are not.
So what of 3D-printed guns, or the fact that it’s easy enough to make a gun, period? Apparently, that’s what really worries the ATF.
The old days of machining gun parts like a receiver or a trigger group in an industrial warehouse have given way to more portable technology that is easy to use.
“And that’s where the ATF will get into trouble when it becomes easy enough to make those weapons that anyone can do it,” Vizzard said.
Silver Beard Firearms of Tallahassee owner Charles Bisbee said he makes only high-end AR-15 rifles that shoot long distances and usually cost $3,400. His guns are meant to perform in the sport of long-distance shooting, but there isn’t much of a market compared to the rapid-fire assault rifles everyone wants, Bisbee said.
“Everyone wants that gun that sprays bullets, but do you really need those? Will you really use that in the real world?” Bisbee said. “The good thing about what I do is I get to choose who I sell to.”
Bullets aren’t what’s being sprayed here.
Based on his comments, I think I don’t care much for Mr. Bisbee
Indeed.
Although I’ve done interviews with media in the past and it can be pretty darn impressive how heavily your words can be “misheard” and then you’ll see things in quotation marks attributed to you that really have nothing to do with what you said haha
True enough. I’ve been on the news and in the paper a few times. A couple of those times I thought “what was that story about?”
Yea I don’t much care for much at all of any of what aby of those people said. They all sound like typical anti-gunners retouching anyway. But it’s too be expected I guess.
They said it’s easy to make a gun THESE DAYS. Since when was it ever hard? I made my first ever slamfire shotgun back at the age of 15, and made it out of pipe and iron caps. Basically everything I needed to build it I purchased from home Depot and costs me a total of about $28.00 bucks. Could even have been cheaper but I bought extra parts to use in case I made a mistake during the building process. Whitch I didn’t by the way. Building firearms has always been legal to do, you can use either commercial parts OR hardware store items either way is permitted.
Hell you could make an SMG out of plumbing parts,just saying. Strangely the morons that make up the grabbers fail to understand that guns are not ICMBs, just basic laws of pressure and spring tension is all that is needed to make something repeating..
You can never stop the signal!!!
You most certainly delay the message, as proven when TTAG itself was slammed by a a denial-of-service (DoS) attack a number of months back for at least 24 hours…
Well since the ATF is too sluggish and lazy we have no choice, it has to go…Tough choice (LOL).
Repeal the NFA 34 and every firearm law since!
I’m at a loss to understand how Bisbee’s ARs differ from the “bullet-spraying” sort, other than price.
Searched the name to get the business address of the FFL, and it is a private home. He may do good work, but nobody knows about him. Lord knows how the reporter found him. Maybe they have a directory of FFLs that will say crazy shite. Surprised they didn’t call up Mike the Gun Scum Weisser for the money quote.
He seems to be one of the manufacturers that ATF has overlooked. I thought kitchen table FFL’s were frowned upon. If he’s selling direct without a storefront, maybe ATF should pay him a visit.
Yea – Let’s just take him right off the list of preferred vendors.
The fact is that it is freedom that drives the anti-gunners crazy. We are winning and short of Hillary in the White House the anti-freedom statists are facing a bleak future with no new gun laws and erosion of old ones as crime continues to go down (except in the big cities they control, which makes them look even worse).
To paraphrase the scientist in Jurassic Park who tried to explain how the all female dinosaurs were able to reproduce – freedom always finds a way. As long as there are men and women who cherish freedom, there will be frustrated tyrants like the goons at the ATF..
Next headline: FDA: “We’re outgunned by all the people growing food in their backyard gardens!”
To the bureaucrats in government, a free people freely enjoying freedom is their worst nightmare.
just saying
http://reason.com/archives/2016/08/06/dumped-cherries-a-reminder-of-awfulness
The beurocrats at the .gov desire to control knows no bounds
Notice how each side is rapidly approaching their endgame, just in different geographic regions, and each threatening to take all the marbles at the federal level? There’s a civil war afoot, and all that’s left is the shooting.
Man, I fear you are right.
Until 3/4 of the country has Constitutional carry and the NFA is a thing of the past, my endgame is no where near in sight.
It appears that currently you could reach your endgame in 3 different ways: 1) Trump wins and appoints 4 justices to the SCOTUS that are like Scalia, 2) Hillary wins (or Trump wins and goes rogue) and enough red states vote to call an Article V convention and ratify a “strict scrutiny” Amendment or other Amendments to protect 2A rights, or 3) we have a civil war.
I hope for #1 or something better.
Um, did anyone notice that he said ironsmith? Pretty sure we’re past the 19th century.
The not so funny thing is that even if we were somehow still in the Iron Age, these morons would probably be bleating about cross bow and match lock control.
But, but, gun ownership is nearly extinct in America. Quality folk like barry, joe, diane and shannon tell me this is so. Shouldn’t I believe them?
Yep, it’s just a few thousand of us crazy, fringe gun nuts who are keeping the multi-billion dollar gun industry afloat.
I know I did my part last month with my $157,000 worth of guns/ammo purchases.
Yea, I always get a kick out of that.
Had some old biddy (with the Hillary sticker on her bumper out in the parking lot) tell me that several weeks ago – the usual “Well, it’s just you old white men buying and stockpiling lots of guns. No one young is buying guns any more.” I get a kick out of the blue-haired crowd, and I absolutely revel in winding them up. Gives me a spring in my step to know I’ve caused some blue-hair, somewhere, to reach for her smelling salts. My wife has to pull me off of them when they say something really stupid, because my wife knows I delight in winding them up.
My wife wasn’t there that day. Oh well… I tried to be a good boy. I tried… for all of about two seconds. Then the devil on my shoulder said “Do it. You know you want to. Wind her up tighter than an eight-day clock.”
I happened to have my laptop on me, so I did a little Google-fu and pulled up the Instagram feed of girls with guns.
As I scrolled through picture after picture after picture of young women with guns, I asked the old biddy: “So, please realize that I’ve been in Trinidad, Colorado, home of the sex change operation. I’m pretty good at spotting post-op transgender men. None of these people look like post-op old white guys. None of them seem to have Adam’s apples on their throats, and their shoulder:hip ratio is quite feminine. If these are post-op transgenders, the MD’s have gotten really, really good. Just thought I’d point that out.”
She was speechless – and horrified. Seems she was not only wound up about young women shooting guns, but young women looking like they were having fun with guns while wearing clothes more flattering than anything she’d ever owned.
Hopefully, word of this doesn’t get back to my wife, or I’m going to have to listen to another lecture about how I’m trolling for business as a EMT.
You sound like a great gun curmudgeon, sir. Well done.
I owe you…
An adult beverage of your choice.
Thank you sir!
LOL. Great post. I learned the term “Blue Hair” from my dad. This brought back fond memories and gave me a good chuckle.
HA HA!!!
The thing that kills me about “Bisbee” and similar Fudds, is there righteous Indignation and their belief that they are immune for agencies like the ATF and they don’t care — that is until it directly impacts them. They have an attitude of I got mine, screw you, you go get your own.
Not sure the name of “Bisbee’s” company but would never purchase from the person ever.
Maybe we don’t really need ATF after all.
If the average cost of his rifles is $3400, I doubt many people will be buying from him anytime soon.
Under Obama’s out of left field executive order this past week, all gunsmith’s would be classified as manufacturers, have to pay $2300 a year fee and quite possibly have to charge customers $200 per gun they touch for excise tax.
Award for EXPLETIVE DELETED of the decade will be presented to Mr. Charles Bisbee of Tallahassee’s, Silver Beard Firearms at his earliest convenience and consist of a box with a coupon for a free swift kick to the nuts. Dear Mr. Bisbee, when you stated, “Everyone wants that gun that sprays bullets, but do you really need those?”, you were trying to drum up support for your wares by shitting(sorry) denigrating the civilian semi-auto MSR market. You have instead proven to people that you sir are an EXPLETIVE DELETED who neither deserves or will ever earn the business of the free thinking peoples of the gun. Good day.
p.s. if your statements were taken out of context i.e. a media fabrication, I would advise you to start drinking heavily.
Punctuation is often as important as the words being used. This is a fact known by every journalist and writer and is especially true when transposing to text from an oral interview.
I can envision Mr. Brisbee stating, “Everybody wants that gun that sprays bullets. But do you really need those to compete in long-range shooting events?”
I hope that was the case, at any rate, and I hope that if this is true Mr. Brisbee finds a way to repudiate the version reported before it destroys his business. And that he has learned his lesson about giving interviews to the press.
If my hypothesis is not true then I can only state that he will reap what he has sown.
It says he makes “high-end,” >$3000 ARs, so I’m guessing he makes fancy billet raceguns with freefloated 16″ middy or 18″ barrels. I highly someone like that would really spurt out that Colts, S&Ws, or Shrubmasters “spray boolits.” If he did say that, he was probably referring to AKs, but then it wouldn’t make sense with the other things he said, because not everyone craves AKs, but most people (including AK-folk) do crave accurate mid-to-high-end ARs.
“…but most people (including AK-folk) do crave accurate mid-to-high-end ARs.”
I was about to take exception to this, until I re-read it. You are correct sir/madam. I, however, am one of those who does NOT crave a mid-to-high-end AR despite how accurate it might be. Oh sure, I’m thinking about considering the possibility of looking into maybe getting an entry-level AR, but that’s mainly just to piss off anti-gun relatives and friends (though perhaps “acquaintances” is a better term).
So the ATF is strained? Good. Strain ’em more. Strain ’em until their b@lls fall off. Then strain ’em again.
It’s not as sure as nuking them from space, but it’s a start.
I was going to post something sarcastic along the lines of “The BATFE is strained? My heart aches for their pain…”
But I like what you said better….
Maybe we don’t need the ATF any longer?
Maybe we never needed this unconstitutional government agency to begin with. Their sole function as a federal bureaucracy is to subvert the “…shall not be infringed.” clause of the Second Amendment.
Alcohol should not be and should never have been a federal level issue, except for the tax revenue it provides, which should be an IRS function if it exists at all. Tobacco has been quite effectively dealt with through other means than the BATFE as a public health issue, except for the tax issue, once again. (Don’t you just love “Sin Taxes”?) Explosives are also covered under the Second Amendment, it seems to me. Their misuse should be a criminal problem – FBI – not a regulatory issue.
This agency has no reason to exist.
Yea, what’s the point? Anyone can buy a 3D printer from Office Depot and print up an AR receiver in a few hours. How do you stop that? Why would you want to?
Then just fold it up and shut it down ATF. Your services are unnecessary anyway.
B- Black
A- Attired
T-Terrible
F-Fiends
I’m feeling mellow today, otherwise I would say what I really think about this utterly corrupt, degenerate and rogue agency dedicated to violating what so many have given their “Their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor” to protect.
I might have used “F*ck-tards” as the last one… but that’s just me.
Zip guns are already easy enough for anyone to build. Or is it that they are worried people can LEGALLY build AR15 semi autos? Oh, and, how dare we bastards associate freely in accordance with the law.
(Silver Beard Firearms of Tallahassee owner Charles Bisbee…
“Everyone wants that gun that sprays bullets, but do you really need those? Will you really use that in the real world?” Bisbee said. “The good thing about what I do is I get to choose who I sell to.”)
With “friends” like this guy we need no more enemies. Sorry but IF I WAS looking to buy a “high end” AR15 for distance I would not in a thousand years choose this guys company. This Fudd needs to go under. He feeds right into the scary black rifle anthem the media is so fast to bite on. I myself will tell all my friends never to spend a dime with this company no matter what product they sell. Sorry to the POTG who want to say we need all the people on our side, Bisbee ain’t one of them.
We can try to change the mind of the ” I only need my shottie or bolt no need for AR’s for my huntin.” Some of them changed with laws passed like Colorado, Oregon, Ca… etc when they show their true colors and go after their guns.
But I will never again spend a dime at Dick’s, no their other store Field and Stream, nor with (Not) Cheaper than (anything really) Dirt. There are other companies who are pro gun by what they do not just to make a buck.
Want my money don’t mess with my rights. Don’t feed the beast that is the media and the anti’s that are trying to eat you. I am not food for their zombie empty headed nonsense. And don’t try to screw me because guns, like CTD or Dicks etc…
I don’t buy from CTD for two reasons. One during one of the ammo crunches they were ripping off people big time. Second they rip people off on a daily bases in their shipping fees. Multiple warehouse bull. I like the place that do the round up for the NRA like Midway USA and Brownells. There are also smaller places online also. All my lowers come from a local FFL that sells Florida made lowers.
Got a link on those Florida made lowers?
https://www.ghostrifles.com/collections/ghost-firearms-lowers
I built one of their skeletonized lowers with an F1 skeletonized upper, turned out interesting. First some strange looks at first then questions at the range. Quality on par with a Aero lower. Plus it’s a Ghost Rifle.
“…federal law enforcement agency that monitors the nation’s gun sales and distribution.”
The fact that they say this with a straight face in public shows how far we’ve come.
Yeah pretty much. These people are traitors to the state and should be treated as such. What does treason buy you these days? Probably a nice federal pension after you retire from a cushy job with a title and a badge.
Well Silver Beard is now on my don’t buy from list. Not that I even heard of them until now. The statement that guy made should not be coming from any 2nd amendment supporter. Idiot. And yes there are lot of manufacturers here in the Sunshine State! Spike’s Tactical and Core (Good Time Outdoors, Inc.) are my go to keeping it local companies.
Sounds like an argument for deregulation.
The fact at the start of the article will be something to remember in 2018 when we replace Nelson with someone who hopefully isn’t a wet blanket like Rubio.
Exactly. They are expensive and ineffective. Sounds like the American people need to stop paying for them altogether.
I wish to make a statement about Sen. Nelson…..*FLAME DELETED*. (did it myself to save you guys the trouble)
As far as Rubio, *FLAME DELETED* that *FLAME DELETED*. (damn , that felt good)
I would say that they are no longer needed!
ATF is what you get when you “try to arrest someone before the act”!
“If they have guns, they are likely to commit a crime”! Stupidity!
Listen to the wording in those comments, about the proliferation of ‘parts’.
How much you want to bet next on the list will be serialized barrels and a demand to do a transfer for all firearm ‘parts’?
Barrels are probably the most difficult part to produce at home. I bet they will try to control barrel blanks, deep drills and rifling components…
machining in an industrial warehouse? I think it’s called a factory or a shop if they make stuff there. So out of touch.
Caught that too, eh?
It’s like these twerps who write this stuff have never been out in the real world. Sheesh.
The truly twisted (perhaps ‘elitist’ is more accurate) part is that they are proud that they don’t know the proper terminology. They wear their ignorance as a badge of honor – ‘why would I know how to use a gun, work a vert mill, use a drill?’, anything. They’re not embarrassed they can’t fix their car, replace a fascia board on their house, change a water heater, run a new circuit out of their breaker box or even know to do it to code – the relevant parts of which are about 1 page of the NEC. Simple tasks that even the ultra wealthy generally knew how to do a couple generations back.
They have been thoroughly convinced/indoctrinated/credentialled that somehow anything but the pseudo-intellectual pursuits are for the dirty peasants, who get ruled by their betters. That somehow the new ‘Renaissance’ person, is capable of only the one ‘correct’ view. They aren’t capable of doing much for themselves, that’s for commoners. It’s somehow an asset to not even be aware of the variables.
Strange days.
Yes. Thank God for the Maker movement and the Prepper movement, which are re-popularizing and bringing a whole lot of these skills back to the forefront. I was very ignorant like this until a few years ago, I had no idea that one could build all the stuff they can right at home with machine tools. I assumed you needed expensive industrial equipment or something, because I had no idea what machine tools even were.
One thing I find very neat is how intellectually-stimulating a lot of these subjects are, I mean there is so much technical knowledge to welding, machining, woodworking, carpentry, mechanics, electronics, etc…it is not surprising that some of the great brains like Leonardo da Vinci for example were fascinated with machines and mechanical things (Leonardo is mostly remembered as a great painter, but he was also a great engineer).
16V,
Your comment, “… they can’t … run a new circuit out of their breaker box or even know to do it to code …”
You are going to love this. I rent a shed and operate equipment that needs electricity 24/7. The rent includes electricity that the property owner is supposed to provide. Unfortunately, the elderly owner lacks the means to maintain his property and the local municipality ordered the local utility to disconnect electricity. I knew there was no way that the owner could fix it. So, I installed new electric service. That means new everything: a pole extending over 12 feet up, anchor for the messenger wire and feed from the utility pole, weather head, conduit, service entrance wire, meter socket, breaker panel, circuit breakers, weatherproof outlet, etc.
I thought you might like that coming from the person who constructed their own portable shooting targets!
Kyle, Leonardo was the definitive Renaissance Man. He also was one of the first to dissect humans in a logical fashion, designed bunches of things, wrote extensively, sculptor, architect, mathematician, etc. The painting was merely one aspect of his amazing life.
uncommon_sense, Good for you running a new service! It’s such a mechanically simple thing to do, yet some people see it as magic because there’s wires, rather than spending an hour or two learning a new skill. So many people sell themselves short, like they can’t do these things.
I guess maybe this is part of the new educational system – kids are taught that everything is to be done by a ‘qualified professional’ to keep them “safe”. This reliance on credentialism seemingly creates very narrow minded citizens. In my experience, curiosity breeds curiosity. In urban areas, you aren’t officially ‘allowed’ to do much without a permit and a license, so that’s another layer of discouragement. In my experience, curiosity breeds curiosity.
In urban areas, you aren’t officially ‘allowed’ to do much without a permit and a license, so that’s another layer of discouragement.
This so much. I have city dweller family. It’s absolutely amazing to me the lack of knowledge of how to do anything mechanical/electrical/carpentry related that they have. I have spent my while life in a farm setting. Professionally, I’m an industrial electrician, but also am an amateur everything. welder, fabricator, mechanic, carpenter, machinist, it doesn’t matter. If it can be done, I’ll eventually figure it out. I think the can do attitude is a part of growing up and loving rural, where there aren’t many available professionals and there are no laws saying you can’t do it yourself. over regulation kills the industrious spirit of many otherwise capable Americans.
Well now , isn’t that just great , poor old regulatory agency isn’t able to regulate fast enough , …………………….. GREAT !
The stupidity at the root of this article is quite frankly amazing.
Gangbangers don’t get together to have AR-15 building parties and they don’t go buy 3D printers to print guns. Unless you’re into this stuff it’s easier to get a black market [stolen] gun than it is to build one. Could that change in the future? Sure it could, but what would you do about it? Ban 3D printers? Ban build parties? They’ll still happen they just won’t be out in the open the same way drug parties are right now.
Plus, stealing a gun or buying a stolen gun gets you the same level of anonymity as building one without an SN. If someone steals a rifle or pistol from me the trail the SN provides stops with me and a police report. If they build one themselves the trail is equally cold when it comes to the actual person is who misusing the gun for criminal purposes. Under no circumstances does the SN on a gun give you the answer to the “whodunit” question unless you have the gun and the person/corpse in custody.
I cry many salty tears for the ATF. BOO-HOO.
I have a sudden urge to buy another ar receiver… and they make great stocking stuffers.
A gun seed, tell the lucky person, they can add some parts and it will grow into a rifle. I just convinced a friend to grow one with his son as something for the son to have years from now that he and his father built together.
He was not sure about it at first, then I said well if your dad had purchased a few no reason to own full autos in 1985, where would you be sitting on the beach now vice working?
Ball clutchers. They need to suck it up and embrace reality and the future. A few decades from now, people will be able to print their own gun from their desktop, made out of metal.
Interesting. I live in Tallahassee but have never heard of the guy or his company. A little bit of googling forthcoming.
What’s wrong with a build party? It’s some good fun with friends and family building stuff and having a good time. Nothing illegal or bad about it. Guns, hunting, collecting, and shooting is a fun, entertaining, wholesome pastime. Nothing wrong with including building in there too. Regardless, it’s always been legal:
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/does-individual-need-license-make-firearm-personal-use
I thought we were a “free country” – what happened??
I don’t see anything to get worked-up about here. So, there are lots of machinists who are turning out small numbers of specialized guns. They are playing by the book, registering, getting a license, paying the fees. Pulling a production number out of thin air, suppose each is producing 100 guns per year. They are going to do a good-enough job of keeping their books straight, filing reports of production, generally good compliance. But let’s deny the benefit of the doubt; suppose they are sloppy about 10% of that production; that is 10 guns. Still not enough to get worked-up about. A hobbyist could produce 10 guns without registering and without putting serial numbers on his handicrafts. Small manufacturers are simply not an issue.
The ATF ought to be looking for the manufacturers who do NOT register! Who are they selling to? This is hard work, finding whiskey distillers, butt-leggers and arms manufacturers in clandestine sites. ATF doesn’t want this work; it would rather do paperwork audits. That’s safe and comfortable.
Let the ATF spread its resources thinly across the large-volume manufacturers. Again, pulling a production figure out of thin air, suppose a large manufacturer has an annual production of 100,000 units. It’s conceivable that 10% of that quantity might be produced off-the-books with no serial numbers and no production reports and shipment records. E.g., a Stag Arms kind of case. 10% of 100,000 is 10,000 guns unaccounted for.
If we are going to regulate manufacturers then it’s worth-while making sure that larger manufacturers are doing their paperwork correctly. My take is that ATF has sufficient resources to audit the larger manufacturers frequently enough to avoid temptation. They don’t need additional resources to keep track of the “boutique” manufacturers.
“This is hard work, finding whiskey distillers, butt-leggers and arms manufacturers in clandestine sites.”
I’m not sure what a “butt-legger” is, but it made me laugh.
The BATFE has no more GOOD reason to exist than NAMBLA or the Klan.
It exists to do harm, and ought NOT to exist.
Now, now. A smart dictator also controls of the opposition.
NAMBLA is the way johnny law can nab all those National Association of Marlin Brando Look-Alikes, before they cause any copyright infringement. Important work old chap, important work….
TOR was created by some confederation of NSA/CIA/NIA/pickanagency. No matter what the anonymity BS story is, the fact is the gov funded it’s development for spies to move (and gather) info.
https://pando.com/2014/07/16/tor-spooks/
Just remember, if you are smart enough to think of a nefarious self-serving purpose for any tech, Fedzilla already has hundreds of folks in rooms who do nothing but think those thoughts all day long, for decent cash.
I need to get into government work as a GS then. They’d call me the “guy you go to when you want to piss your panties”.
What’s the GS-08 pay scale again?
GS-08? What I paid my assistants when I was a mid 20-something running unit-level operations in the early ’90s.
You should demand something in excess of Step 10, GS15. It’s all available on contract…
*sigh* Just ignore the joke there buddy. Apparently government work takes away your ability to think.
At least that’s the joke we used to make.
They might have more resources for overseeing legal manufacturers if they put less into running guns to Mexican cartels, or the cover up thereafter.
Just sayin.
Really, I’ll believe they are resource constrained (for what they’re chartered to do) when they stop provisioning mission-creep.
Maybe they can pull some of their geniuses out of the BATFE think tank for “really stupid ideas that are never going to work” to do some audits.
I would imagine that recruiting would be an issue. Who would want to work for the agency that makes every other government agency look somewhat competent by comparison?
BATFE has passed it’s “useful to” date. Time to assimilate the functions into other agencies and move on. And please fire the guy that seized the airsoft guns in Seattle claiming that they could be converted to full auto 5.56 firing rifles.
So I guess WE have a choice of who to buy from…and it won’t EVER be Silver Breard Firearms. Putz…
Poor ATF cry-bullies! Not enough resources to interfere with the free-market responding to Americans exercising their constitutional rights? How awful! The horror! The horror!
ATF demands gunsmiths register as manufacturers, then whines because of how many licensed manufacturers they have?
Perhaps a ploy to bulk up their staff?
Machining gun parts in an industrial warehouse? This tells me these folks know nothing about basic shop and machine tools. Not surprising as unfortunately I didn’t either until a few years ago. Anyone is capable of building, from scratch, firearms, steam engines, internal combustion engines, and all manner of other things with basic machine tools in their garage or basement. They don’t even need to be electrical-powered to do it. You also can build the machine tools themselves from scratch if need (that is how they created the first ones back in the late 17th and very early 18th century).
California no longer has build parties
I was going to say that. This is true particularly with respect to milling 80% lowers on CNC machines, which was quite a thing for a while. Even Ares was int he business. But then the ATF did a few stings where they went into shops and encouraged employees to “help them” set up the machines, and then busted the shop of r being a “manufacturer.” To make matters worse, some of those employees were ex-cons, so they got felon in possession charges piled on top. After this, which was a warning only, the ATF declared that using a pre-programmed CNC machine constituted “manufacturing,” subjecting any owner of a machine to criminal prosecution for allowing anyone else to use it to mill a lower. And that was the end of “build parties.” That was a couple of years ago, so anyone milling a lower either has to have his own machine or use a drill press to complete the process. That will also (maybe) come to an end the first of the year, when it will be required to obtain a serial number from the California DOJ before starting a build, which process also includes a background check, plus another law that requires anyone currently owning an unserialized lower to apply for numbers from the DOJ (with a background check of course), and registering the weapons as an “assault weapon.” Lat but not least, there will be a huge drop in the sales of stripped lowers, because it will be illegal to build an “assault weapon,” (i.e, one with a bullet button); until the workarounds are tested, only featureless builds will be allowed, and quite frankly, there aren’t a whole lot of people who want featureless ARs. (Wither that, or Ares will make a killing selling stocks and rat tail bolts).
“That will also (maybe) come to an end the first of the year, when it will be required to obtain a serial number from the California DOJ before starting a build…”
My guess is that this law is, like many other things, going to be “interpreted” to require specific tools to “guarantee accuracy and compliance”. At that point they’ll require something like a TMP6100/470EAS Dot Peen Marker which no regular Joe can afford and use that to kill most people’s ability to comply with the law.
Is this tied to when the ATF (I think) they had said that 80% lowers constituted a full firearm if any tiny modification was made (like a hole), and this backfired as then all people did was buy 80% lowers, drill one hole in them, and then take it to a gunsmith to build the gun as the gunsmith was not “manufacturing” the gun, as the 80% lower was already considered a gun, so the gunsmith was just gunsmithing an existing firearm?
Who would have thought? We’ve gone from having Tupperware parties to AR-15 building parties. Life really is good!
Too bad we just gave the government tens of millions… Maybe even a 100 million a silencer and SBR tax stamps. Plus those record high number of NICS check fees. And the millions in ammo taxes. And the ffl licensing and itar fees at at least $2250 a year for said excessive quantities of dealers and manufacturers. Why is the ATF complaining, this is a gold mine! They should be able to hire as many agents as needed, have some posh conventions and parties, staff a few FDA and EPA special ops teams… Granted it doesn’t all go to the ATF, but the government is definitely doing OK here. Maybe just misappropriating it.
I have no ill intent towards “the government”, I have no problem with being able to outgun the government and it’s agencies. It may be “The Government” legally elected by citizens, but, it is not Our Government any longer, has not been for years. We are at the bottom of the outhouse, nowhere to go from here but up. Hopefully it can be done without violence.
So I assume Bisbee builds high end bolt action AR15’s? Or are his “high end” $3400 AR15s so flawed you can’t get more than one or two rounds off before they jam? Or perhaps he has some kind of proprietary round per minute technology that limits his “special” overpriced “long distance” AR15s to no more than 3 rounds per minute.
At least I don’t need to worry about a backstop with my rifle. It obviously will be pure luck if a bullet flies more than a few hundred feet. It cost far less than his special long distance rifles so obviously while it will spray bullets as fast as I can pull the trigger they won’t go very far.
What an elitist FUD.
I would have used the first two letters of the word you used to describe this guy. The last two letters would have made it a FLAME DELETED!
Just another way for a federal agency to plead for additional funding , nothing more.
1) T O U G H _ S H I T
2) LAUS DEO!!!!!
Help! Help! People are doing legal things that harm nobody, and we’re not able to stop them all!
By all means lets put the brakes on a growing industry that improves the economy and provides jobs, because a behemoth authoritarian bureaucracy can’t do its un-needed job.
I wish some would ask the atf why they are still enforcing the blatantly racist firearms acts of 1934.
Good. Overwhelm the system to the point they can’t function. Teach more people the skills to build theirown and keep up the pressure. In time it won’t really matter what laws they pass. Ideally perhaps…
As an US independent constitutionalist voter. I agree, the BATFE should be Disbanded like the TSA.
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