barnbwt
member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2011
- Messages
- 7,340
We've seen it before, and we see it on display once more today; the Bureau unilaterally deciding they have the authority to regulate something they admitted they didn't the day before. The ostensible reason the BATFE has this power of decision is that congress delegated this authority to them (the law they charged the Bureau is so vague and poorly written, that assumptions and interpretations must be made if they are to enforce anything and keep their jobs)
It stands to reason that any overreaches by the Bureau should then answer to the congress from which their power arises (their enforcement powers arise from the Executive, and I don't think their authority to arrest people is at issue, so much as their interpretation of the congressional mandate). Congress critters, busy and short of attention span as they are, have likely delegated their common oversight authority for the Bureau further to a subcommittee, which I would think is where we should start hammering for effect.
Does anyone know which subcommittee, and more importantly, which reps and senators, are directly responsible for ensuring the Bureau is held accountable for this exact breach of trust? If it's a bunch of anti's, I know there's not much we can do aside from supporting court battles (hopefully SIG will once again go to bat for us where the NRA and pro-gun party routinely demure). But we write our reps when bad laws are proposed, and find the technique effective, so why not see if the same is true when bad regulations are 'magicked' out of foggy legal gymnastics? It's gotta be more productive than complaining to the BATFE director or the president...
More than anything, I think it would be interesting to learn from correspondence, whether or not the overseeing legislators have the slightest idea what is going on over at the Bureau. I will try my best in the next day or so, but I think a brief letter explaining the state of things (the NFA, the BATFE-FTB, and the SIG brace) and the consequences of this latest ruling, will be at best convincing and at worst revealing. We'd at least know if congress is even capable of resolving this dispute and others like it for us, or if the courts truly are our only vehicle for change.
TCB
It stands to reason that any overreaches by the Bureau should then answer to the congress from which their power arises (their enforcement powers arise from the Executive, and I don't think their authority to arrest people is at issue, so much as their interpretation of the congressional mandate). Congress critters, busy and short of attention span as they are, have likely delegated their common oversight authority for the Bureau further to a subcommittee, which I would think is where we should start hammering for effect.
Does anyone know which subcommittee, and more importantly, which reps and senators, are directly responsible for ensuring the Bureau is held accountable for this exact breach of trust? If it's a bunch of anti's, I know there's not much we can do aside from supporting court battles (hopefully SIG will once again go to bat for us where the NRA and pro-gun party routinely demure). But we write our reps when bad laws are proposed, and find the technique effective, so why not see if the same is true when bad regulations are 'magicked' out of foggy legal gymnastics? It's gotta be more productive than complaining to the BATFE director or the president...
More than anything, I think it would be interesting to learn from correspondence, whether or not the overseeing legislators have the slightest idea what is going on over at the Bureau. I will try my best in the next day or so, but I think a brief letter explaining the state of things (the NFA, the BATFE-FTB, and the SIG brace) and the consequences of this latest ruling, will be at best convincing and at worst revealing. We'd at least know if congress is even capable of resolving this dispute and others like it for us, or if the courts truly are our only vehicle for change.
TCB