By: Friedrich Seiltgen
Copyright © 2022
The recent unconstitutional “rule change” perpetrated by the BATFE will create a whole new class of felons, and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has something to say about it.
The Biden administration claims that stabilizing braces turn pistols into short barreled rifles, and now approximately 40-million-gun owners will be required to register the stabilizing braces with the BATFE.
As anyone with a room temperature I.Q. knows, laws like these come from Congress, not unelected federal agencies. Unfortunately, the United States is now run by a dementia patient who was vice president under the criminal Obama regime. We all remember Obama bragging about bypassing Congress with his pen and a phone, and this is just the 3rd term of Obama.
U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) introduced the “Abolish the ATF Act” of 2023, which eliminates the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms (ATF) immediately after the bill’s enactment.
During his time in Congress, Congressman Gaetz has repeatedly sounded the alarm on ATF overreach. In June and September of 2020, he issued letters to Attorney General William Barr and Acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo calling on the ATF to “cease taking any actions and reconsider or rescind any secret determinations which call into question the legality of firearms owned by millions of law-abiding Americans.” Both letters went unanswered by the ATF. Last week, however, the ATF then cited Rep. Gaetz’s June 2020 letter in their latest announcement of big government overreach by forcing gun owners to face the risk of a felony charge if they do not register their firearms with stabilizing braces.
“House Republicans have the ATF in our crosshairs. The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on their repeated actions to convert law-abiding citizens into felons. They must be stopped. My bill today would abolish the ATF once and for all,” Congressman Gaetz said.
The ATF claims the rule change will not cover braces “objectively designed and intended as a ‘stabilizing brace’ for use by individuals with disabilities.”
“I think they are under the flawed conception that a stabilizing brace increases the lethality or danger of a pistol,” the Florida Republican told Fox News. “It seems the ATF is on a snipe hunt for regulatory action that virtue signals to the anti-gun left, but that has no real practical safety impact on Americans.”
Spot on, Matt! The rule change will only create more felons by non-compliance.
That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”
Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response. His writing has appeared in RECOIL, www.floridajolt.com, The Counterterrorist Magazine, American Thinker, Soldier of Fortune, Homeland Security Today, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International. Contact him at [email protected].