When they want to burn you

[727Sky]

[Ninurta]

About a minute into the video, the "ATF" guy in the middle of that stick is rockin' a .22 rimfire "assault weapon". It's a Ruger 10/22 with either a bull barrel or an integral suppressor. How do I recognize it? because I had substantially the same thing.

His:



Mine:



Now, before you start giggling at the notion of a soldier carrying a .22 rimfire, just know that some of those were actually made and issued to real live soldiers. I used one that was suppressed at a little machine shop in Greensboro, NC for government folk. They turned the barrel down, bored holes in it along the length to vent gas into the suppressor, and then packed it with "stuff" and added a jacket around the barrel to complete the suppressor. The net result was a rifle so quiet that the only thing you could hear was the bolt slapping back and forth when it fired, even with full speed ammo. No shit. That one was made from a Ruger 10/22 also, but it was not the one in the image I posted. The one in the image was mine, personally. I built it up from a stock 10/22 myself.

It looks like the guy in the video is running a couple Eagle Industries 25 round magazines "jungle clipped" together, whereas mine had Promag 32 round magazines, and the extra geegaws are mostly mounted in different places (most notably the flashlights - his is mounted to the forward sling swivel stud, mine is mounted to the scope tube along with a laser to the side - the thingy with the yellow sticker), but the basic platform is the same one if you compare the receivers between the two.

The suppressed versions were made for special purpose use, assassinations and sentry removals (which, really, is just assassination lite), and that begs the question - what the hell is an ATF agent on a routine raid gonna do with one? Who does he plan on quietly assassinating?

.

[ABNARTY]

This is depressing. 

The quick version IMHO is a agency under the Executive branch, outside of Legislative or Judicial review, can oppress citizens at will. If said citizen cannot afford legal defense all the way to SCOTUS (or 99.9% of Americans), they are screwed. 

Look at what the ATF is doing right now. Any part of a suppressor is now a suppressor itself. Have some tube steel sitting around the garage? The ATF can come in a claim it's a suppressor because it can be used in the construction of one. They are redefining the language in their regulations and implementing their new interpretations. Congress just sits there with their heads up their butts. 

Just wait until CBDC's get going here. That will be the death of the 2A. And a lot of other things too.

[Ninurta]

This is depressing. 

The quick version IMHO is a agency under the Executive branch, outside of Legislative or Judicial review, can oppress citizens at will. If said citizen cannot afford legal defense all the way to SCOTUS (or 99.9% of Americans), they are screwed. 

Look at what the ATF is doing right now. Any part of a suppressor is now a suppressor itself. Have some tube steel sitting around the garage? The ATF can come in a claim it's a suppressor because it can be used in the construction of one. They are redefining the language in their regulations and implementing their new interpretations. Congress just sits there with their heads up their butts. 

Just wait until CBDC's get going here. That will be the death of the 2A. And a lot of other things too.

Not just tube steel. I've seen suppressors made out of PVC pipe, PVC pipe caps, and window screen. Your local Lowes or Home Depot are now literally loaded down with illegal suppressors.

Most of the windows in your house are illegal suppressors, if they have screens in them. Your bathtub or kitchen sink is an illegal suppressor if it has a drain pipe.

A tube of lithium grease at the auto parts store is an illegal suppressor, because lithium grease is a component of screened suppressors.

BATFE is also trying to "redefine" firearm by redefining "firearm receiver", which is the only part of a gun they recognize as THE firearm. They are trying to make the definition more vague so that "80% lowers" will become actual guns subject to BATFE regulation and FFL dealer requirements, but the definition is so vague that any chunk of metal or polymer could technically be defined as a "firearm". Sheet metal, too, because sheet metal can be bent, drilled, milled, and fabricated into an AK receiver, and is therefore a Kalashnikov rifle.

But wait, there's more! Now they are toying with the idea of redefining "split receivers", such as an AR has with an upper and a lower, such that every part of the receiver is in itself a "firearm", and then will have to be stamped with serial numbers. When that goes into effect, you will no longer just be able to swap upper receivers on an AR to make a match grade tournament rifle, or switch calibers, or any of the thousand things you can do with an AR just by swapping out the upper receiver. You won't just be able to order a complete upper and get it through the mail any more - it will have to go through an FFL dealer.

Taurus is getting ahead of the curve on that - the last Taurus pistol I bought, a couple years ago, was stamped with the serial number on the receiver, the slide, and the barrel... and that's just the serials I can see on the surface, without taking it apart.

Anyone wonder at my fascination with pointy sticks? It's because the BATFE - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives - has not yet become the BATFEPS - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, and Pointy Sticks.

Not YET, anyhow.

.

[ABNARTY]

This is depressing. 

The quick version IMHO is a agency under the Executive branch, outside of Legislative or Judicial review, can oppress citizens at will. If said citizen cannot afford legal defense all the way to SCOTUS (or 99.9% of Americans), they are screwed. 

Look at what the ATF is doing right now. Any part of a suppressor is now a suppressor itself. Have some tube steel sitting around the garage? The ATF can come in a claim it's a suppressor because it can be used in the construction of one. They are redefining the language in their regulations and implementing their new interpretations. Congress just sits there with their heads up their butts. 

Just wait until CBDC's get going here. That will be the death of the 2A. And a lot of other things too.

Not just tube steel. I've seen suppressors made out of PVC pipe, PVC pipe caps, and window screen. Your local Lowes or Home Depot are now literally loaded down with illegal suppressors.

Most of the windows in your house are illegal suppressors, if they have screens in them. Your bathtub or kitchen sink is an illegal suppressor if it has a drain pipe.

A tube of lithium grease at the auto parts store is an illegal suppressor, because lithium grease is a component of screened suppressors.

BATFE is also trying to "redefine" firearm by redefining "firearm receiver", which is the only part of a gun they recognize as THE firearm. They are trying to make the definition more vague so that "80% lowers" will become actual guns subject to BATFE regulation and FFL dealer requirements, but the definition is so vague that any chunk of metal or polymer could technically be defined as a "firearm". Sheet metal, too, because sheet metal can be bent, drilled, milled, and fabricated into an AK receiver, and is therefore a Kalashnikov rifle.

But wait, there's more! Now they are toying with the idea of redefining "split receivers", such as an AR has with an upper and a lower, such that every part of the receiver is in itself a "firearm", and then will have to be stamped with serial numbers. When that goes into effect, you will no longer just be able to swap upper receivers on an AR to make a match grade tournament rifle, or switch calibers, or any of the thousand things you can do with an AR just by swapping out the upper receiver. You won't just be able to order a complete upper and get it through the mail any more - it will have to go through an FFL dealer.

Taurus is getting ahead of the curve on that - the last Taurus pistol I bought, a couple years ago, was stamped with the serial number on the receiver, the slide, and the barrel... and that's just the serials I can see on the surface, without taking it apart.

Anyone wonder at my fascination with pointy sticks? It's because the BATFE - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives - has not yet become the BATFEPS - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, and Pointy Sticks.

Not YET, anyhow.

.

Pointy sticks, eh?

Sorry. Those are clearly defined as Assault Lumber. ATF said so on their arbitrarily worded website. Possession of such makes you a terrorist hell-bent on destroying democracy.

Do you have a $200 tax stamp for it? Approved serial number? Background check? Form 69 signed by your county Sheriff? No parking tickets in the last 150 years? Proof you voted for Joe Biden? A note from your Mom? 

If so, then you are OK. This week anyway. Next week maybe not. No one needs an automatic wooden stick. Think of the children.