Article: Trump’s ATF Wants to Slash Gun Regs, Defend Second Amendment

Well, it is about time the Executive Branch starts focusing on the criminals and not on the means by which the law abiding citizens defend against them!

I'm not so sure they want to defend the 2A as much as they want to look at bringing some semblance of order to the myriad of regulations, letters, and decisions out there. They DO seem like they might be thinking of taking a look at changing some rules in regards to suppressor parts such as wipes, and starting to maybe even allow the sale of firearms interstate at gun shows. There could be some good things coming out of this white paper, but it's really just offering suggestions and options for the new administration. The paper also states these are not official opinions of BATFE but those of the writer alone. Let's keep our fingers crossed. BTW they are not asking for public comments at this point either.

This is one letter written by the second in command at ATF.
It's not an official change in policy, and I wouldn't put much faith in any hype you read on INFOWARS.

Snyper said:

This is one letter written by the second in command at ATF.
It's not an official change in policy, and I wouldn't put much faith in any hype you read on INFOWARS.

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Exactly.

Not just on INFOWARS. I just read a similar article on the Washington Post.

Sounds good. That said, I will believe it when I see it, and not a moment before.

I'm patiently waiting to be able to legally protect my hearing and allow a piece of rubber to touch my shoulder. I'm in no rush as i'm sure that our President will eventually get to most of these issues in the coming months. Donald Trump Jr is a seasoned firearms enthusiast and has spoken publicly about the hypocrisy behind these feel good firearms laws that do nothing but infringe on the rights of law abiding citizens.

Ronald Turk, associate deputy director and chief operating officer of the ATF, the second-highest-ranking official, wrote a 11 page proposal to reduce gun regulations. The proposal was dated 1/20/17, titled “Options to Reduce or Modify Firearms Regulations" and opens with the wording of the Second Amendment - https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...eb1120-ec7c-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html

Here's the pdf of the proposal - https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3454608/Read-the-white-paper-on-firearms-regulations.pdf

Points for Discussion:

1. New Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL) Dealing Exclusively at Gun Shows (or internet)
2. Armor Piercing Ammunition
3. Re-importation of Certain Department of Defense Surplus Firearms from Foreign Countries
4. Title 18, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 922(o) - Transfer of machineguns between DoD FFL/SOT
5. Firearm Arm or Stabilizing Brace - Reverse determination letter
6. Reissue a New Sporting Purpose Study - For AR-15s, AK-style and similar rifles
7. Creation of a Database of Agency Rulings - Database to maintain and readily access private letters and rulings
8. Silencers - Allow silencers for sporting purposes
9. Firearms Industry Proposals to Allow for Interstate Sale of Firearms at Gun Shows
10. Destructive Devices: NFA (26 U.S.C., 5845(f)) and the GCA (18 U.S.C., 921(a)(4)) - Differentiate between destructive device launchers and destructive device munitions
11. Demand Letter 2 (DL 2) - Change reporting requirement
12. Demand Letter 3 (DL 3) - Remove demand letter 3
13. Pending ATF Regulation Regarding FFL Records Retention (20 years) to indefinite
14. Expanding Permissive Use of NICS Checks by FFL Holders
15. Need for an ATF Confirmed Director - Agency needs a presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed Director who has the support and backing of the Administration to lead ATF
16. Old Regulations Under Review for Possible Removal or Amendment

If it is on InfoWar, sorry, I'm not even bothering clicking the link.

The PDF, however, looks very interesting.

No President has ever cleaned up the BATFE. The Directors see President Trump reorganizing many departments.
What if Wayne Lapierra were to become head of the BATFE? That would be earth shaking.

You never know.

From the proposal - https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3454608/Read-the-white-paper-on-firearms-regulations.pdf

15. Need for an ATF Confirmed Director - Agency needs a presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed Director who has the support and backing of the Administration to lead ATF

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To put it politely, infowars isn't generally a reputable source.

However, there is such a pdf that does make those claims. It's a great read if you have a few minutes.

I wonder if it's too good to be true, as it's quite a bit different than the Fast and Furious ATF we are more familiar with.

On the other hand, it's entirely plausible that such actions are part of an attempt to avoid defunding or worse from the Trump administration.

Or, bds might be on target with number 15 there.

What if Wayne Lapierra were to become head of the BATFE?

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That's called regulatory capture. Similar hijinks happen more often than you'd suspect.

The BATFE was created from the of the old Prohibition era Revenue Service. It was due to expire and to be closed down. LBJ and others renamed the corrupt department and used it to invade the 2nd Amendment.

Swing said:

If it is on InfoWar, sorry, I'm not even bothering clicking the link.

The PDF, however, looks very interesting.

Click to expand...

Well rather than stopping to comment that you won't be reading the article that the thread is focused around, it may be easier to just.. I don't know.. Move on?

I first saw this as a stand alone link to the PDF. Inforwars can do exactly the same and it doesn't impact the credibility of who wrote it. As such it's just a wish list coming from someone in the ATF who has the gravitas to suggest things.

In that regard it's not so much what the "ATF" would like to do at all. It's what the #2 man wants you to think he's prepared to accept as change - which makes it more a job resume. In the Trump Administration this sort of thing is going to be interesting as it exercises that sort of "twitter feed" publicity the President appears to be using.

I didn't read it as a list of things the ATF is going to release as impending regulation changes. Like the bans on ammo, that requires advanced notice and public input. Here's the important part - how much public input will each separate issue get, and which ones will receive the lions share of negativity? Not in the press, actual comments delivered "in the mail" opposing them? There are so many I don't think the gun opponents can tamp them all down. So it will come to which one will they target, and the change on silencers which already has legislation pending is one they have committed to oppose already.

It becomes the lead item and it's very likely they will lose on that one anyway. Most of the anti hype published is ridiculous tripe that a knowledgeable citizen laughs at, and the unknowledgeable will oppose only if they already do. It don't see them getting much traction and it offers them the opportunity to expend even more political capital - which they are in short supply.

Once a series of changes like that list appears in the comment period and the process keeps putting them out, we will have a train of deregulation that will be hard to put the brakes on. And this Administration isn't known for having any brakes. : )

Although the pdf is a "proposal to reduce gun regulations", we do have the Second Amendment Coalition chaired by NRA and Donald Jr. along with the Second Amendment Caucus who have committed to introducing pro 2A legislations and they have been busy since the election.

Dog Soldier said:

The BATFE was created from the of the old Prohibition era Revenue Service. It was due to expire and to be closed down. LBJ and others renamed the corrupt department and used it to invade the 2nd Amendment.

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May be they are waiving an olive branch hoping the republican law makers won't use the Holman Rule to defund BATFE and pay them $1 per year like Planned Parenthood?

Its a "white paper" and nothing more. Its OK to be optomistic but don't plan the parade just yet.

white pa·per
noun

1. a government or other authoritative report giving information or proposals on an issue.

Generally speaking (in my field of Software Engineering), it represents a scholarly article about a proposed change to architecture or best practices meant to be discussed and used as a basis for moving forward with standards that better fit the current environment.

Sure, it may "only" be a white paper, but you would have never seen anything coming out of the Obama administration or a Clinton administration. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

Here's the Washington Post article for those looking for a non-Alex-Jones-tainted source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.05722b689b1a

A man born in New York, New York. Can all this pro gun news be true?

Yes!!!!!

Every agency has been ordered to provide ideas on ways to reduce regulations, including guidance that would require two regulations be done away with for every new regulation written.

Obviously some of the proposals in Turk's white paper are beyond agency control - silencers would have be addressed by legislation from Congress for example (cue the Hearing Protection Act). But essentially, Turk's paper offers a menu, or shopping list, of ATF regulations subject to the chopping block. I don't know Turk and cannot speak to his motivations but the white paper need not represent things he supports for the measures proposed. They may include things that he is opposed to doing away with or implementing but that in view of the direction from the President is prepared to offer up. In that light, the white paper recommendations make sense and one might indeed reasonably expect action on several of the items.