I, quite literally, had a local Iowa State Senator approach me and say this, exactly, “Michael, what *(^$#% you off so bad about the VAWA legislation?”  I explained that the true problem with the VAWA civil rights disruptions center on the placement of both money and latitude being offered ATF through the NICS denials prosecutions and broadening of the Federal Government to do so.  At the heart of the matter here is a flaw, apparently, too many in Congress missed.  ATF can’t be trusted to do their work with respect to the civil rights of Americans.  Why would we increase their scope and throw money at them to do so?

It pains me to say it considering our President has been very vocal on curtailing citizens’ right to keep and bear arms, but the problems associated with the Form 1 debacle we’re seeing right now don’t even appear to be coming from him.  I’m not even convinced they’re coming from the interim director.

What people don’t understand about ATF is this:  They make it up as they go.

There are upper middle management folks called Bureau Chiefs, and the American citizens see wild shifts in policy and practice based on the occupants in these positions.  A former Bureau Chief making the decisions over things like pistol braces, homemade firearms (like the polymer 80 frames and 80% lowers), and Form 1 kits took no issue with them.  A new Bureau chief does.  This person has come in and said something like, “I don’t care how we’ve been doing it, it all changes now, and we’re going to be retroactive in our policy change.”

I ask you, is that how civil rights work in America?  “Yeah, I respected your civil rights yesterday, but today we’re tossing them out with the trash.”  #shakingmyhead

For those of you lost, I’ll get you up to speed.  As Americans, you’ve always been able to build your own guns.  You don’t have to buy one from Ruger or Smith&Wesson if you don’t want to.  But when it comes to any NFA (National Firearms Act) weapon, like a suppressor (commonly referred to as silencer by ATF) you must adhere to strict registration of the weapon you’re intending to make, as it’ll be added to a national registry that tracks it for the remainder of its days.  The process is often simple, but extremely rigid.  You can, if you wish, acquire all the material to make a suppressor in various forms of function, but it cannot be fully functional.  It isn’t uncommon to be able to buy a “Form 1 Kit” from a place like Quietbore right here in Iowa.

You can buy all the stuff you need to eventually make a functional suppressor.  Prior to this, you’ll need to fill out what ATF calls a “Form 1” with complete information about yourself along with a detailed description of the “firearm” you wish to make and register.  You also need to provide $200 per serial number as the amount of tax to be paid for each serial number.  Find the entire ATF Form 1 Application HERE.  Here’s a pic of the first of 13 pages you’ll go through:

This is an application.  ATF will either approve or deny this application.  With no small irony, they’ll take your money and cash your check first and if you’re denied you’ll eventually get your money back.  Unlike other goods and services in America, you pay upfront with no idea what the outcome will be.  Keep in mind this hunk of metal CAN NOT function in any way, shape, or form, until you have an “Approved” Form 1 back from ATF.  What has some Bureau chief decided to do all of a sudden?  …Deny pending Form 1 applications for homemade suppressors.  Read all about this mishegoss HERE at ammoland.com

What was the reasoning ATF used, you ask?  That’s a good question.  Here is what was stated in RED in the “reasons for disapproval” back from ATF:

A SILENCER IS DEFINED UNDER FEDERAL LAW TO INCLUDE, IN RELEVANT PART, ANY COMBINATION OF PARTS, DESIGNED OR REDESIGNED, AND INTENDED FOR USE IN ASSEMBLING OR FABRICATING A FIREARM SILENCER OR FIREARM MUFFLER, AND ANY PART INTENDED ONLY FOR USE IN SUCH ASSEMBLY OR FABRICATION. SEE GUN CONTROL ACT (GCA) AT 18 U.S.C.921(A)(24) AND NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT (NFA) AT 26 U.S.C. 5845. PARTS THAT FALL UNDER THE DEFINITION OF SILENCER MUST COMPLY WITH THE REGISTRATION, TAX, AND TRANSFER PROVISIONS OF THE NFA. UPON REVIEW OF YOUR EFORM 1 APPLICATION, THE PART FROM WHICH YOU INTEND TO MAKE A SILENCER ALREADY MEETS THE NFAS DEFINITION OF SILENCER. THE PART WAS NOT REGISTERED NOR TRANSFERRED IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE NFA, THEREFORE, YOUR EFORM 1 APPLICATION TO MAKE A SILENCER IS DISAPPROVED. NFA DIVISION NOTES THAT IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR YOU TO POSSESS A SILENCER MADE OR TRANSFERRED IN VIOLATION OF THE NFA. 26 U.S.C. 5861(B)(C).

In plain English?  You have parts that could be construed to eventually be that of a silencer, therefore it is a silencer, therefore you’re a knuckle dragging felon, therefore do not pass go, do not collect $200, and head straight to Monopoly jail.  Yes, I injected humor, but people are being harassed by ATF, their inert nonfunctioning parts being confiscated, and I predict much worse is ahead.

Here’s an analogy to what ATF really said, “Women are raped by men.  Joe is a man.  Ergo, Joe is a rapist…”  What I just wrote was grammatical, but IS NOT logical.  ATF offered the same kind of blather.  Yes, those are words, but strung together they offer no logic.  Because you have nonfunctioning parts that could be altered in the future to construct a functional suppressor, you’re guilty of breaking the law now?  Because you did exactly what ATF has asked you to do you’re in violation?  Confused much ATF?

Keep in mind, no matter whether you bought this as a kit from a reputable local seller, or finished this up on your hobby shop lathe in the basement, there is NO HOLE down the center of this tube of metal until you get an approved Form 1 back from ATF.  So this ‘thing’ isn’t functional, except, maybe, as a paperweight.  What would happen if ATF attempted to use one of these ‘kits’ that is waiting to be approved, since they’re making the claim it is a ‘silencer’ by definition?  It would explode!  You NEVER fired a weapon with a clogged bore.  And these ‘silencers’ don’t have a bore drilled in them yet.  This is total nonsense, people.

It gets worse.  You’ve got thousands of Form 1 applicants being denied for a reversal of their regulations, and a deliberate misinterpretation of the rules ATF made.  So, what happens to the thousands of ATF-approved Form 1s going back years?  Each and every one of them is tied to the person who built it, with their address and complete information.  Is ATF planning to go door to door and TAKE them all?  Maybe they’ll use federal dollars and deputize local Peace Officers as “feds” so this can be accomplished.  Why not, we just gave them more latitude and money to do so a week ago, right?  And what happens when they do?  Will you finally believe Jim Crow is alive and well within several aspects of government?  Do you begin to see how dreadfully this could go for everyone?

Door-to-door confiscation will never happen in this country.  …Until it did in New York, California, and Connecticut.  Yeah, but I don’t live there, so…  And those were ‘state’ issues.  What will you say when this is a federal issue and it happens in any and every state?

So why, Michael, are you so *(^$#% about the VAWA NICS nonsense that was dropped into the big 2741 page spending bill that sailed through Congress in hours?  Plain and simple – It gives ATF, an agency with an abysmal track record for respect of Americans, more power, money, and control.  And they continually prove they can’t handle it and shouldn’t have it.

A contingent of Senators grouped together on March 17th, 2022, to send ATF’s interim director, Marvin Richardson, a letter regarding this matter:

1. Please explain why the ATF is denying Form 1 applications for silencers.
2. Please explain whether these denials reflect a change in policy in how the ATF regulates self-made silencers.
3. Please explain what the ATF has done to inform the American people of its position regarding a Form 1 application and devices it believes are silencer “kits,” so that law abiding Americans can attempt to comply with the law.
4. Please explain how the ATF evaluates whether a Form 1 application for a silencer is going to be used for a kit that, in ATF’s view, is already legally a silencer.
5. Please explain why the ATF has repeatedly approved Form 1 applications for silencers made from “kits” if the agency’s policy is that one or more items in the “kits” are considered silencers.
6. Please explain how the ATF intends to handle approved Form 1 applications that occurred before February 28, 2022 for silencers made from “kits.”
7. Please explain how the ATF plans to make tax-free registration available for applicants who in good faith attempted to comply with federal law. If ATF does not plan to make tax-free registration available for applicants who in good faith attempted to comply with the federal law, please explain why.
8. Please produce all documents and communications, including but not limited to ATF legal opinions, referring or relating to the ATF’s definition of a silencer, or what constitutes a silencer “kit.”

Find the entire LETTER HERE for your reading.  I’ll save you the suspense though, neither Senator Grassley nor Senator Ernst signed the letter.

Disappointing.

In Liberty,

Michael Ware
IFC