David Codrea: ATF position on equipment use threatens private gun-making

The ATF seems to claim that they have the authority to regulate the rental or lending of tools, at least on the premises of the tool owner.   That is a large expansion of their power.   Here is David Codrea's article:

In its first ruling of 2015, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has held that businesses may not allow individuals to use their equipment to further process incomplete firearm blanks, frames and receivers , attorney Joshua Prince reported Saturday. Such businesses may not assist or provide machinery access to unlicensed individuals without being licensed firearms manufacturers.

The ruling, signed by ATF Director B. Todd Jones on Friday, also holds that the businesses must “identify (mark) any such firearm and maintain manufacturing records,” and that Gun Control Act requirements may not be avoided by allowing persons to perform processes on machinery, tools and equipment a business controls access to. Excluded from the ruling are weapons and devices regulated by the National Firearms Act.

The effect of this ruling will be to close down operations in which persons who are legally entitled to manufacture their own firearms for personal use are permitted by a business to use its equipment, either with instruction or without. Provided such firearms are not intended to be sold or distributed, marking and record-keeping requirements do not apply. By changing the rules, ATF has closed down a means by which people who lack the equipment themselves to finish off a part will be able to exercise their right to build a firearm, a practice many rely on, particularly when completing so-called “80 percent” precursor receivers.

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