ATF Announce 34 Proposed and Final Rules

The ATF announced 34 proposed and final rules.  In this episode we review some of them and discuss what the possible impact may be.

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Transcript

0:14

Well, welcome to the Live Shoot podcast. My name is Jeff Dowell and I've been a licensed firearm dealer for the last 18 years, and this podcast is talk about all things related to the Second Amendment. As well as anything else go on in the world of a sports story or anything else I might find interesting. So welcome, welcome, welcome. So, some new developments happened yesterday afternoon regarding the A TF and they presented. 34 proposed and final rules, uh, that they say represent the culmination of DOJ and the a TS Comprehensive Regulatory Review conducted during the past year. So they presented these, I'm gonna go through some of them. Uh, there is right now just summaries and so we can't really ascertain exactly what the rule says. I don't think we've actually seen the, the full rules. Um, but they broke these rules down into. Five categories, a repeal group, a modernized group, a reduced burden group, clarify group, and align group. So we're gonna touch on some, not all ones that particularly impact firearm owners and some of them that impact FFLs and the transfer process. There's some others out there that, um, we won't, won't, won't get into today. So, uh, in the repeal group. We have a the removing factoring criteria for firearms with attached stabilizing brace is the A TF is proposing to formally rescind regulatory changes made in 2023 regarding firearms equipped with stabilizing braces. So not sure what that means. I don't know if they're going back to saying that anything with a fire, our firearm brace is a, short bail rifle, uh, which was that, that's what the rule actually stated back then. And then courts have overturned it. So I'm hoping this is a positive thing in terms of removing stabilizing braces as a criteria that makes a firearm a short bail rifle. Next one is revising regs defining engaged in the business as a dealer in firearms. So. They made some changes and where they defined the rules for engaged in the business of dealing in firearms, and basically they said if you sell a firearm for a profit, you could be considered engaged in the business of dealing in firearms and need to get an FFL. So that pretty much. Encompassed everybody so that they could, it is theoretically cool after anybody that sold a gun on gun broker to their neighbor, and they made more on that gun than it costs when they bought it. And we know that that happens a lot. People buy that. People buy guns and then they turn around and they sell'em. They're not trying to be gun dealers, but they find a deal. They don't like it. They wanna get another one. So on and so on. So, hopefully. They're gonna uh, clarify and, and really to come down to what it is to be engaged in a business. Another one, the revising Machine Gun definition. In response to Supreme Court Decisional, a TF is removing two sentences from its Reg three regulatory definitions of a machine gun that previously incorporated bump stocks into those definitions. This action responds directly to the US Supreme Court, Gar Garland v Cargill. So. So no longer now are bump stocks going to, I believe what they're saying here be classified as a machine gun. A machine gun. It is really anything that when you pull the trigger, it fires multiple rounds and bump stocks, force reset triggers and such. You still require individual trigger pulls to, fire a bullet and one trigger pull equals one bullet. They just allow you to fire it faster. So hopefully some good news coming down about that. Uh, next group is modernizing groups. So, uh, revising firearms transaction record, uh, a TF is proposing comprehensive updates to the A TF form 4 47 44 73. The proposed rule would streamline identity and residence verification requirements for transferee. The time, it would increase the time period, uh, that a background checks check remains valid, which I believe right now is 30 days. And clarifies exemptions to background checks, permit electronic notices, and authorized use of electronic forms, auto population, and digital records detachment. So. Maybe some new good news about that. Firearms record keeping. This is one a TF is proposing to formally authorize federal firearm dealers like FFLs to generate, maintain and store required records using electronic record keeping systems. So I. Today if you wanna store them electronically, such as the PDF, uh, you had to get a exception for whatever system you were doing using and make them go through the whole, whole process with the A TF. Sounds like we're gonna be getting away from that and that you can just store'em electronically without having to get pre-approved. Here's one that could be near and dear to my harms firearms record retention periods. A TF is proposing to replace the current practice of indefinite retention. So it used to be 20 years, then they came in and said, Nope, you gotta keep'em forever. Or if you go outta business, you have to turn'em back, return'em all the records back to me. This says they're considering the retention periods of either 20 or 30 years. I would say 15. I would like to see the data that any trace records or anything that they got. From a, uh, records that were over 15 years, did they provide any usable or valuable information? License easy check verification for transfers. So, uh, now they're saying that this rule is proposing to allow FFLs to use easy check to validate a a, a an FFL, that you're transferring a d uh, weapon to like shipping to versus having to get a copy of their license. So. I'm just making it a little easier and then revising non over the counter firearm transaction requirements. I'm not sure what this one is about. A TF is proposing to amend regulations to authorize non over the counter firearm sales by federal firearm licensees to residents of the same state. The proposal rule would allow FFLs to comply with the requirements of of non over the counter transactions originally implemented by the Gun Control Act of 1968. This update is based on recognition of increased options to securely verify photo identification of of prospective purchasers. Uh, we'll have to see what that one leads to. The next is reduced burden group. So let's see. Um, what all is in the reduced burden group? Quite a few in here. Interstate transport. Okay. This is, um, some different things around exporting removing the Clio notifications for the NFA so you don't have to notify the, uh, local law enforcement clarifying interstate transportation firearms under the gun control act. Not sure what all that transfer machine guns between qualified licensees. Thing about clarifying the tax payments for business activity for the SOT and then removing the triplicate filing requirements for importing plastic explosives. So, not a lot that, that's gonna have a significant impact to gun owners. Clarifying. Here's quite a few in here. Again, this is, uh, stuff about, let's see, let me go through here. Importing, A lot of this is around importing and manufacturing. Clarifying. Uh, here's one. Selecting biological sex on a TF forms. A TF is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify that in response to questions about sex on the a TF forms, why we even have that individuals should select their biological sex. Right now on the 44 73 while back, they added non-binary, so I'm hoping that they remove that definition of business premises. A TF. Uh, this is one firearms transactions and straw purchases. A TF is proposing to amend its regulations, provide greater regulatory clarity around the federal prohibition of straw purchases. So that has always been a very gray area and. Really left up to FFL dealers and enforcement agents. And I've had conversations with a TF agents during inspections, uh, just theoretically talking about what a straw purchase is and is not. Uh, some say that if I'm buying it I come and I bought it and I'm it's gonna be for my wife, but that's a straw purchase. Uh, but I'm like, I could gift that to her. But they're like, well, but that's not what you're really trying. You're not saying it's a gift. You're just, and. Very, very gray area. So we'll see where all that goes. Ah, and this is one, creating a definition of willfully for firearms violations. So a TF are proposing to formally define the term willfully in its implementing regulations that imp applies to violations of gun control acts. So what that means is, as an FFL, when I would get inspected if I, if it was deemed that I was willfully. Doing these errors that may be found that then I could really be into, I could lose my license, I could face some criminal charges those types of things. But willfully was was implemented in a lot of cases by let's say I come and I get inspected and they find that there was one form where. I forgot to check a particular box or let's say I forgot to write in that it was for one firearm. There's a, I have to requirement that I have to list the nu total number of firearms, and they found that on one form. Then they come back and inspect me again and they find that same error again. Th that was def that fit into, and they would say, now, since I've done the error twice, I am willfully doing that and I could lose my license and potentially, uh, have criminal charges pressed against me. So I'm anxious to see how they define willfully. Uh, these will all be interesting changes. So, and let's see. This last one is align. Export. I'm just kind of skimming through the, a lot of this is around implementing exports. So the last one is a TF is issuing a final rule to amend. Its National Firearms Act Regulations reflect changes made by the one big beautiful bill act to reduce tax remittance rates of certain NFA firearms. So they're just gonna make a rule that officially acknowledges that a$200 tax stamp on suppressors and short bail rifles is no longer into effect. So those are a number of the 34 rules. Uh, it looks like there's some potential for some, um, improvements, some changes to get the a TF better aligned and, uh, with the second Amendment and what are, and taking more or less burden off of FFLs and. Uh, I'm making it a little clearer in terms of what is and is not, um, enforceable and what are, um, machine guns and those types of things. So I'm curious, we're gonna keep following this because again, this is, uh, still developing these, I haven't seen the actual rules yet. We'll have to probably pull those each up and go through'em one by one. So I'll be looking into it more and we'll potentially have more information. Also, if you haven't subscribed to my newsletter, do that because that's additional place where I'll be providing information and updates on either videos that other creators have done, uh, articles or what have you, that about these types of topics. So, um, and that comes out weekly. You don't spam, you don't. Try and sell your, I don't sell your information, don't do anything. So if you wanna get some additional information, subscribe to my newsletter. You can go to my website and or in the link in this, in the show notes. There. Also be a place to subscribe. If you like the content, share this podcast, give it five stars, do all that. I appreciate you listening, and we'll continue to file this and update things as they happen. Thank you and take care.