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Our northwestern correspondent, Chris Dumm, has been struck almost, well, dumb. It seems that our friends at the ATF have proposed a common sense change to the firearm import permitting rigamarole that actually makes some common sense. Here’s Chris’s breathless email to our fearless leader. . .

RF:

I read through the notice and the proposed rule, and this actually looks like a good thing. From the ATFE. I’m almost dead from shock, really.

Currently, firearms importers have to apply for a firearm/ammo import permit from the ATFE, and then they have to jam the whole contract’s worth of guns and stuff through the sales contract AND inspection AND shipping AND customs within 12 months. If there’s a glitch and they don’t get it done in 12 months, their permit expires and it’s a PITA to ask for an extention even though they’re almost always granted.

This new rule would see the ATFE issuing 24-month import licenses instead of 12-month licenses, so there wouldn’t be as much of a rush on the importers and less of a monitoring and approval burden on the ATFE itself.

Odd that Holder would propose this; maybe it has something to do with the shitloads of M1 Garands soon to return from Korea?

Chris

Color us surprised. Happily. Anything that makes the import process easier should lead to more gun choices at a lower cost. Theoretically, anyway.

Here’s a link to the relevant legalese in the federal register containing the proposal. You needed some sleep anyway, right? It all boils down to this paragraph.

This proposed rule does not impose any new reporting or recordkeeping requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act. ATF Form 6 currently states that a permit is valid for 12 months from the Director’s date of approval, which is specified on the permit. If this proposed rule is adopted, the ATF Form 6 will be revised under currently approved OMB control number 1140–0005 to reflect the 2 year (24 months) amended period of validity for import permits.

Sorry, but I have to get my shotgun. The dogs are barking at all those pigs flying around outside my window.

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23 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t see where the further infringements on our freedoms comes in. We are still talking about the ATF, right?

  2. I just wish they would open up the “Assault Weapons” Importation ban. All it does it make busy work and limit smaller companies from marketing their weapons to the US.

    (Plus the Izhmash Tiger would be one kick ass hunting rifle.)

    • No, but I did just see a report that NORAD has detected a number of pig-size UFOs moving at about Mach 2.

  3. Holder is trying to buy off TTAG’s readers to quit bringing up that pesky F&F stuff.

    Really, there are people in the bureaucracy who want to do things better. Sometimes they succeed. This looks like one of those times.

  4. Holder did state recently that he is not going to serve a second term…like maybe. If true, then maybe he has decided to buy stock in the firearms industry and open a chain of gun shops along the US-Mexican border specializing in AKs and ARs.

  5. Holder is going to open a gun store in the heart of DC when this term finishes so he’s just getting all the logistics ready.

  6. Yeah. Right! They’re going to “help” us.

    Sorry but they have burned every bridge, salted every well, raped all the women after they shot all the men and male children, then they stole or shot all the livestock. But that was then and they’ve changed!

    It wasn’t our idea and no, we can’t just get along.

    The safest thing to do with a bear (using the Soviet analogy, deliberately) is to presume that he will eat you, just as he has done with others before. Unless you are stupid, in which case you will become his lunch.

  7. The ONLY reason this change is being implemented is because it was previously inconveniencing the government. It’s NOT being changed to increase the public’s convenience. Somewhere along the line, ATF decided that the 12-months rule was a pain in the ass for ATF, not anyone else.

    • Yeah, that’s most likely the explanation. ATF was probably tired of getting grief from Congress over the delays on the permits.

Comments are closed.