A rant about the stupidity of our current gun laws and the agency who enforces them.
Long story short, a company (Diversified Manufacturing) was selling a solvent trap kit that could be machined into a suppressor. It's legal to make your own suppressor, you just need to submit a Form 1 to ATF, describe what you're doing, pay the NFA tax, register the suppressor and abide by all the other NFA regulations governing the item. Fast forward to 2020 and the ATF decided the kit itself is a suppressor and raided the business, despite the fact that it's essentially an aluminum tube and solid blocks of aluminum that fit into the tube. You literally can't fire anything through it because it is made up of pieces of solid aluminum.
Yesterday, ATF sent everyone who had submitted a Form 1 (regardless of whether it came from Diversified or not) a denial. The reason for the denial is that they have an illegal suppressor and it can't be registered because it was never transferred to them via a Form 4 as an NFA item, despite the fact that it wasn't considered an NFA item at the time they'd taken possession and then followed the regs to legally make a suppressor.
Everyone that got one of these denial letters has essentially ratted themselves out as being in possession of an illegal NFA item. The Form 1 includes name, address, SS#, a description of the item you're manufacturing, where you purchased the materials, etc... Possessing an illegal NFA item is bad juju and everyone who got the blanket denial letter is now in possession of an illegal NFA item.
"Violations of the NFA are punishable by 10 years in prison, forfeiture of all devices or firearms in violation, and the individuals right to own or possess additional firearms in the future. In addition, there is a penalty of $10,000 for each of certain violations.
In addition, a willful attempt to evade or defeat a tax imposed by the National Firearms Act is also a felony which is punishable by up to 5 years in Jail and a $100,000 fine under the tax evasion statutes. This penalty could be increased to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations."
People shouldn't ever wonder why there are law abiding gun owners who hate the ATF.
From someone who got a denial letter:
Yep, got my "denial" yesterday afternoon.
I have an unmodified JK Armanent "solvent trap" that was perfectly legal, now being told that in it's unmodified form, is according to the ATF, a suppressor, so I can't do a form 1 to modify it, according to the rules, because it is already considered a suppressor.
And technically, I can't form 4 it, because I already have it in my possession and it wasn't transferred via a form 4 when I bought it, when it was legal to own it without transfer.
And just because I have it, it is "illegal".
What a bunch of ********.
