grampajack
AR Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2016
- Messages
- 1,714
Why does gunsmithing not fall under "Defense Services" instead of "Manufacturing?"
It's clearly a service based industry, at least as far as traditional gunsmithing is concerned. I'm not talking about "custom gunsmiths" who are indeed manufacturers, such as guys like Turnbull, Wilson, Les Baer, etc. I'm talking a bout ye olde gunsmith's shop, where the smith works exclusively with items brought to him by the customer.
Calling a traditional gunsmith a manufacturer seems like putting a car mechanic on the level of GM.
For those not familiar with the definition of "Defense Service" here it is:
Obviously, the moral of the story is that defense services are only such if the client is a foreigner. Furthermore, there's no actual definition of "Manufacturer" that I could find in any of the actual regulations (not saying there isn't one, but it's well hidden if there is).
So am I the only one to ask this, or has this been addressed already? It just seems like the powers that be are making stuff up to reclassify services as manufacturing in order to force domestic service providers, like gunsmiths, to cough up their lunch money. If classified as a defense service, smiths would only be prohibited from providing their services to non-citizens if they didn't want to pay the 2700 dollars a year, which is a no brainer since non-citizens aren't supposed to be buying guns anyways.
It's clearly a service based industry, at least as far as traditional gunsmithing is concerned. I'm not talking about "custom gunsmiths" who are indeed manufacturers, such as guys like Turnbull, Wilson, Les Baer, etc. I'm talking a bout ye olde gunsmith's shop, where the smith works exclusively with items brought to him by the customer.
Calling a traditional gunsmith a manufacturer seems like putting a car mechanic on the level of GM.
For those not familiar with the definition of "Defense Service" here it is:
§ 120.9 Defense service.
(a)Defense service means:
(1) The furnishing of assistance (including training) to foreign persons, whether in the United States or abroad in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, production, assembly, testing, repair, maintenance, modification, operation, demilitarization, destruction, processing or use of defense articles;
(2) The furnishing to foreign persons of any technical data controlled under this subchapter (see § 120.10), whether in the United States or abroad; or
(3) Military training of foreign units and forces, regular and irregular, including formal or informal instruction of foreign persons in the United States or abroad or by correspondence courses, technical, educational, or information publications and media of all kinds, training aid, orientation, training exercise, and military advice. (See also § 124.1.)
Obviously, the moral of the story is that defense services are only such if the client is a foreigner. Furthermore, there's no actual definition of "Manufacturer" that I could find in any of the actual regulations (not saying there isn't one, but it's well hidden if there is).
So am I the only one to ask this, or has this been addressed already? It just seems like the powers that be are making stuff up to reclassify services as manufacturing in order to force domestic service providers, like gunsmiths, to cough up their lunch money. If classified as a defense service, smiths would only be prohibited from providing their services to non-citizens if they didn't want to pay the 2700 dollars a year, which is a no brainer since non-citizens aren't supposed to be buying guns anyways.
Last edited: