Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Second Highest ATF Official Suggests Gun Law and Regulation Reforms (HPA included)



A "white paper", written by the second highest ranking official of the ATF, has been obtained by the Washington Post. The date, official, and reforms mentioned, are all significant.  The paper was dated January 20th, 2017,  inauguration day.Ronald B. Turk is the author. The paper expresses "the ideas and opinions" of Mr. Turk. From the washingtonpost.com:
The second-highest-ranking official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has written a proposal to reduce gun regulations, including examining a possible end to the ban on importing assault weapons into the United States.

The “white paper” by Ronald B. Turk, associate deputy director and chief operating officer of the ATF, calls for removing restrictions on the sale of gun silencers; allowing gun dealers to have more guns used in crimes traced to their stores before the federal government requires additional information from the dealer; and initiating a study on lifting the ban on imported assault weapons.
A number of common sense reforms are discussed in the paper. People in the gun culture will recognize many of them as obvious reforms that would have happened long ago, if there were a sympathetic ear in the White House.
Here are short descriptions of the reforms.  The long versions are available in the paper itself.

1.  FFL license issued for sales at gun shows only, no sales required at physical address. (This removes much of local "veto power" of FFl license issue)

2.  Rational review of  "armor piercing" ammo for rifles.

3. Re-importation of Certain DOD Surplus Firearms from Foreign Countries. (Garands and MI Carbines, anyone?)

4.  Variances on "transfers" of Machine guns for people in DOD industry and Theater industry.

5.  Finding the "use" of a firearms arm "Brace" for non-design purposes does put the firearm in the category of SBS or SBR.

6.  New Study on Sporting Purposes because of increased sporting use of AK and AR style rifles.

7.  Creation of a database of Agency rulings (mostly open to the public).

8.   Moving of Silencers from the NFA to the GCA. (Essentially the Hearing Protection Act.)

9.  FFLs to be able to sell interstate at gun shows.

10. Destructive device reform for the industry to benefit the DOD.

11.  Change in the number of "crime guns" used in Demand Letter  (2) from the BATFE.

12.  Eliminate Demand Letter (3) (Southwest Assault Rifle Multiple sales).

13.  Reconsider pending request to change from 20 year retention of records to indefinite.

14.  Expanding NICS check availability for background checks by FFLs for Employees.

15. Need for an ATF Confirmed Director.

16. A list of old regulations to be considered for removal or amendment. (some significant)

As a long term bureaucrat, this white paper reads as an application for the ATF director spot. It is not likely that the current director will stay at the head of the ATF.  He has been tied to the white wash of the Fast and Furious fiasco. The paper fairly screams: I am willing to work with you, and I know how to take direction.

I found it fascinating that the comments at the Washington Post, a left wing, establishment paper, were generally favorable.

The gun culture should consider these suggestions as the opening of a round of negotiations on national gun law and regulatory reform.

All of the listed reforms should be considered the minimum that will be acceptable.

With the ATF on board to testify for these reforms, in front of Congressional hearings, how do the Democrats stop them?

President Trump, master negotiator that he is, will have a list of what he "wants" to get done.  Those proposals should go far beyond these.  As the Donald has written, in The Art of the Deal 
"My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward," he writes. "I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I'm after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want."
If this white paper can be considered as the "low end" of what will happen, the gun culture will be very happy with what President Trump delivers.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included

Link to Gun Watch

2 comments:

AngryBiker said...

#13 is an obvious no-go. An indefinite federal database of lawful firearms owners is redolent of a totalitarian regime.

Anonymous said...

I would be more than happy to accept a total repeal of the 1934 NFA, 1968 and 1986 GCAs if the ATF wants to stay in business for other purposes. the Item keeping records indefinitely is national gun registration in a box and an added frustration for licensed dealers. Loose a form 4473 in the 21 first year and loose your license is what it means. go through each of these offers and read between the lines. it could go from the dealer keeping the records indefinitely to immediately sending the forms to ATF.

OZero blocked the return of 600,000 M-1 carbines. I would be very interested in getting my hands on an M-2 carbine. most people can not tell the difference in the original models.

I recommend keeping your eyes and mind open and read very carefully. ATF is not your friend.

It did not mention 1911 model 45 ACPs and long barreled sniper rifles or M-14s. that can be full auto with a wrench. In Vietnam we had an M-2 we got from the SVA with a foot locker full of 30 round magazines. we kept it in our perimeter bunker that survived the November 22, 1968 sapper attack. eleven bunkers to the left were completely destroyed. Not one of us were issued a CIB. 50 sappers backed up by 200 NVA regulars. we stopped them cold. we only counted eleven bodies but there were lots of extra pieces. we also had an M-60 and the next day five more M-60s and four fifty cals were added to that section of the perimeter. twin barreled 40mm tanks were on each end of that section of the perimeter line. that was the day four women disappeared crossing the landing strip. they ran into 40mm HE rounds. their AK 47s survived the hits. the women just turned to smoke. the biggest piece of the four women that we found fit in a sandwich bag.