ATF capricious decisions (spin off from 5320)

JohnFreeman

The bane of my existence
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I've followed the NFA decision follies for 40 years, and it was interesting to read BW's trials with this years 5320 submission.

What strikes me about this though, is while it's funny in its wackiness and lack of reason, the ATF plays games with decisions that determine whether a felony is committed. ("it's all fun and games until the handcuffs go on").

It would be one thing, if the nutty response BW got was an isolated issue, but it's not. There's a never ending litany of nonsensical, contradictory opinions out of this agency. Seemingly, one can be guilty of "constructive intent" with FA conversion parts for some guns, while AK kits are sold with FA trigger groups without issue. Some solvent traps are sold through Amazon/Walmart affiliates and are AOK, while others are seized at Customs. Sometimes an arm brace is OK, other times it's potentially an unregistered SBR. Sometimes an "accessory" upper for a Ingram Mxx is approved via submission of the upper, other times it's rejected because the lower didn't accompany the submission (oh, and the "technical branch" may take YEARS to make a decision on an application).

None of this stuff is defined in any way that the typical citizen can thread the needle and be sure of abiding by the law, as decisions fluid and change from time to time without any explanation.

Of course there's the issue of timeliness of NFA paperwork, which has NEVER been at acceptable levels in the 40 years I've observed them. They've been incompetent for so long we've all grown to accept it.

If there is ever a perfect case study of why the public sector provides better services than the government does, the NFA is the perfect one. They're tasked with a simple administrative process and they fail at every level

</RANT>
 
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