Category Archives: Second Amendment

Reddit Bans Gun Accessory Groups

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Reddit this week moved to shut down several large and popular buy/sell/trade subreddits revolving around gun accessories like optics and parts.

The publicly traded forum-style social media platform, which has over 100 million users, is set to debut a new and enhanced rule concerning gun accessory listings on Oct. 9. While the direct sale of controlled items such as guns and suppressors has always been banned on the site, the prohibition will be expanded to cover just about everything else gun-related. In short, “communities will not be permitted to allow user-to-user transactions involving any firearm parts or enhancements.”

In the days leading up to the rule announcement, Reddit reached out to moderators on popular accessory subreddits to warn them that the sub would be banned moving forward.

“Thanks to everyone that participated in the sub. We’re pretty bummed about this, too,” noted the mods on the r/PrsAccessoriesForSale sub.

Others like GAFS (r/GunAccessoriesForSale), which has 47,000 weekly visitors and has been around since 2018, said they are taking their community off Reddit, moving to a new website being set up by the mods, and will keep operating on Discord for now.

Why this is bad

The reason the arbitrary Reddit change hurts the gun community is twofold.

First, free (ish) online community classified services such as Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace have long had blanket bans on “weapons and weapon parts,” including accessories such as grips, sights, scopes, magazines, lasers, and lights. Ebay allows sales of new and used optics, accessories, and some gun parts, even “low-cap” magazines, but it is often seen as difficult for the average person to sell items and holds payment in escrow until the buyer receives the item. Niche sites like Tacswap and Infinite Armory exist but don’t have anywhere near the reach and traffic that Reddit offers, or more correctly, offered.

Second, the move by Reddit to freeze out a vibrant community on the platform with no recourse follows along the narrow and winding path blazed by other mainstream social media providers when it comes to the stigmatizing person-to-person trade in what are legal and arguably constitutionally-protected firearm accessories. At some point, gun collectors and enthusiasts, marginalized and actively turned away by big-name social media, are going to be forced to move off-site and underground to continue to enjoy their passion. That, or get out of the game altogether.

Which may be the larger plan.

Experienced Big Tech Censorship? The FTC Wants to Hear from You

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The nation’s consumer protection agency wants feedback from the public about how technology platforms deny users access to services based on the content of their speech.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a public inquiry on the possibly unlawful ways that consumers may have been harmed by technology platforms – such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, et. al. – that limited their ability to share ideas freely and openly.

“Censorship by technology platforms is not just un-American, it is potentially illegal,” said the watchdog agency in a statement. “Tech firms can employ confusing or unpredictable internal procedures that cut users off, sometimes with no ability to appeal the decision. Such actions taken by tech platforms may harm consumers, affect competition, may have resulted from a lack of competition, or may have been the product of anti-competitive conduct.”

The FTC is asking the public who feels such censorship has occurred to enter a public comment, which will become part of the record at Regulations.gov. Those with privacy concerns who may be reluctant to call out big tech in such a public manner can file a report directly with the FTC by going to the agency’s site and clicking “Report Now.”

The public comment period ends on May 21.

Form 1 Assist Update

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Sorry about missing Warship Wednesday, yesterday, guys, as I am on the road with work and it is proving more time-consuming than I had expected. So much for my plan to write a WW while at the hotel at night. 

However, I have an update on those Form 1 SBR-making applications through Silencer Shop. The cut-off by SiShp was supposed to be 26 April, but they have just extended their eForms engine deadline to start a new form for another 20 days, through 17 May.

Not saying you need to register anything, we are all big boys and girls here. But if you did, and didn’t feel good about doing eForms alone, SiShp is an option for the next few weeks.

About that Pistol Brace Form 1 thing

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Ok, guys, if you don’t have a pistol brace, skip this one.

If you are one of the estimated between 10 million and 40 million Americans that may own a large format pistol with a stabilizing brace installed– which the ATF has arbitrarily said is now an illegal unregistered short-barreled rifle– and unsure what to do next, read on.

First, you have four choices.

  1. You can remove the brace and make it to that it cannot be reinstalled.
  2. You can turn over the firearm to the ATF for destruction
  3. You can convert it to a full-on rifle, complete with a barrel at least 16 inches long, and just slap a real stock on it.
  4. You can register it in accordance with the NFA as an SBR. For the latter, the ATF has been magnanimous enough to waive the $200 making tax.

As for me, I have several of these braced pistols and, while many would advocate non-compliance, that isn’t really a thing for me as I have several articles and videos floating around going back to 2012 with me using said items. Thus, I have a much higher visibility than most when it comes to this stuff.

Not to get too personal, but I have done a mix of the above options including Nos. 1, 3, and 4.

If you are curious about just how to go about getting your “free” SBR, which comes with a raft of future restrictions and isn’t an option for those in NJ, NY, CA, RI, HI, MD (if OAL is less than 29″), DE (Wilmington only), and DC, it isn’t that complicated to pull off.

I did my amnesty Form 1s via Silencer Shop, which charges $50 per form submission, but includes the fingerprint service via their kiosks (which are everywhere, I had like 8 in my small city of 50,000 alone), review of your form prior to submission by people who do it every day, an engine that files it all via ATF’s archaic eForms GUI, and a program that automatically notifies the local CLEO. A portion of that fee also goes to 2A groups to help fight such things.

It was an easy process and I have multiple forms now pending ATF approval.

The bad news is, “Due to popular demand and to ensure all forbearance applications are successfully submitted prior to the ATF’s May 31, 2023 deadline, the last day to start a tax-exempt Form 1 through Silencer Shop will be April 26, 2023. No new tax-exempt Form 1 services will be offered after this date.”

For more info on how it’s done, check out this video:

For those who are either too late to start a form via Silencer Shop or would just rather keep the $50 fee, Fudd Busters (who is a firearms attorney but not Your firearms attorney), has a step-by-step video on how to use ATF eForms to do a Form 1 for a pistol brace/SBR.

Remember, you have until the end of May.

Your pistol brace countdown starts today

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In the predawn hours on Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives published its final Stabilizing Braces rule in the Federal Register. 

With an effective date of Jan. 31, 2023, the new 98-page rule, unless successfully challenged in the courts, will fundamentally outlaw the use of pistol stabilizing braces in their current form, instead reclassifying large format handguns so equipped with one as a short-barreled rifle to be regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934. 

Federal regulators have classified the accessories since 2012 as being compliant with the NFA, and Congressional Research Service estimates run as high as 40 million braces in circulation. 

“Any weapons with ‘stabilizing braces’ or similar attachments that constitute rifles under the NFA must be registered no later than May 31, 2023,” notes ATF. Alternatives include handing the firearm over to the agency, destroying it, converting the pistol to a normal rifle with a barrel at least 16 inches long, or “permanently” removing the brace so that it can’t be reattached. 

The modern brace as introduced and extensively patented by SB Tactical came about after USMC and Army veteran Alex Bosco went shooting with a disabled combat vet who was having such a hard time shooting on the range that the RSO stopped him over safety concerns due to lack of control. Bosco then created the prototype for the brace in his garage and submitted the design to ATF for approval. 

In a November 2012 letter from the agency, regulators at the time noted: 

The submitted brace, when attached to a firearm, does not convert that weapon to be fired from the shoulder and would not alter the classification of a pistol or other firearm. While a firearm so equipped would still be regulated by the Gun Control Act … such a firearm would not be subject to NFA controls.

The new rule seems to only be popular with a minority of gun control advocates and the White House. By the ATF’s own admission, of the 237,000 comments logged over the proposed rule last year, “There were over 217,000 comments opposed to aspects of the rule.”

There are sure to be legal challenges to the new rule by firearms industry groups and Second Amendment organizations. As for SB Tactical, they said on Monday, “We are still here and have not left you. At this point, we have to let the legal team do what they have been preparing to do for a very long time. Nothing is over, and we are still in the fight. More to come soon.”

Dugan Ashley Brought the 2A Community light, now he needs our help

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A lowkey Vet who gave a ray of light and humor to the gun community that has yet to be surpassed, has signaled that he is “going to be sitting this one out.”

Dugan Ashely, through his slapsticky yet educational firearms videos on YouTube, thrilled millions around the globe with his antics, producing content that, although imitated, is hard to match. Ashley was a legend for years but in 2015 dropped out of the public eye and deleted his CarniK Con Show channel, although mirrors exist of some of the more sensational clips.

Plus, despite the bargain bin outfits and campy humor, his weapon manipulation skills were absolutely on-point as this circa 2014 video on LMGs displays:

While making brief cameos on other channels from time to time, Ashley has been keeping a low signature for the past half-decade.

However, last Thursday, he surfaced in a video on a new channel, soberly informing fans of his ongoing battle with Multiple Sclerosis.

A GoFundMe has been authorized to collect money to help him combat his debilitating illness.

I gave. If you have the ability to do so, I am sure every little bit helps.

As Dugan would say, “$20 dollars is $20 dollars.”

S&W Waves Goodbye to Massachusetts After 169 Years

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Citing “the changing business climate for firearms manufacturing in Massachusetts,” Smith & Wesson said they are relocating their historic headquarters to a more pro-gun climate.

The move, announced Thursday, would see S&W’s headquarters and “significant elements of its operations” including 750 jobs move from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maryville, Tennessee, by 2023. While the famed American gun maker has been based in Springfield since 1852, company officials say it is time for a change.

“This has been an extremely difficult and emotional decision for us, but after an exhaustive and thorough analysis, for the continued health and strength of our iconic company, we feel that we have been left with no other alternative,” said Mark Smith, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Tip for the Week: Get Right on Your Mags

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While ammo prices are still sky-high– if you can find it (anyone seen a box of .38 SPL lately?)– and firearms themselves are slowly coming back down to normal, probably the most affordable accessory on the market today that could someday, with little notice, vanish, are detachable magazines.

Metal or plastic, look for those mag deals now, kids, and keep em clean.

I’ve been picking up Okay Industries aluminum mags for $8 (with no tilt followers and textured bodies) and Magpul PMAGs for like $10. Likewise, factory Glock doublestacks are running $20 ish. If you have an HK G3/ HK 91 pattern battle rifle, you can grab West German surplus mags for $3 (yes, three dollars).  

To reiterate: you should still be buying magazines. They’re so cheap and so plentiful right now it’s crazy. I am old enough to remember during the 1994-2004 Federal Assault Weapon Ban when a clapped out USGI mag was $75 in Clinton-era dollars.

Don’t be caught unprepared if that happens again. Eger warned you.

Buckle Up for a Wild Ammo Skyrocket Ride

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Marketed as a punishment to the Putin regime– although ammo sales only make up a tiny portion of Russian overseas exports and an even smaller slice of the country’s GDP– the State Department on Friday announced an almost immediate (effective Sept. 7) ban on granting import permits (ATF Form 6s) for ammunition “manufactured or located in” Russia.

While the sanction could (but probably won’t) fall off in a year, you can probably kiss those sweet, sweet deals on cheap and reliable Russian-made ammo such as Barnaul, Tula, Red Army Standard, and Wolf, a hard goodbye. Meanwhile, those with guns chambered in old Warsaw Pact calibers such as 7.62×39, 7.62x54R, 7.62×25 Tokarev, 9×18 Makarov, and 5.45×45 could be in a pinch to find any ammo, with the exception of surplus fodder from non-sanctioned former Eastern Bloc countries and a few outliers such as Igman, Sellier & Bellot, and PPU. 

Going further, even if you don’t shoot that budget-friendly “steel cased Russian stuff,” which is generally seen as the rough equivalent to malt liquor if equated in terms of beer, such cheap ammo was the only thing keeping more traditional brass cased ammo prices in check. A safety valve if you will.

The bottom line, ammo is fixing to get even more scarce and expensive.

Case in point, looking at AmmoSeek pricing, when I first covered the story Friday afternoon for Guns.com, the best deal on 7.62×39 was 25-cents per round, for steel-cased Wolf bulk. As of the penning of this post on Sunday night, it was 57-cents per round for the same stuff.

Big oof.

Last Chance to Comment on ATF Receiver Rule Change

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This is the last day to comment on the ATF’s pending idiotic proposed new receiver rule. Go do your part if you haven’t already.

The rule, pitched as a fix for “dangerous ghost guns” is actually far more complex and filled with minute tweaks, with the ATF’s ambiguous summary running to 1,600 words alone, and its analysis clocking in at 67 pages. Besides establishing a de facto ban on so-called 80-percent frames and receivers in the way they are in circulation today, it could also stand to regulate “split/multi-receiver” and “modular firearms” such as the AR-15 and P320 in ways that could require AR uppers and pistol slide assemblies to be a serialized firearm.

This would effectively end the days of uppers or unfinished frames/receivers shipped directly to the door of otherwise law-abiding folks, treating them instead as Title I firearms that would have to transfer through a licensed dealer with a Form 4473 with a NICS (and/or state) background check. 

All you need is a couple of sentences. Just say something like, “I am writing AGAINST ATF’s proposed rule (Docket No. ATF 2021R-05). They seek to change the definition of a firearm receiver that’s been defined in law for 53 years. If a change is needed, it should be done by Congress!”

Just a couple of quick sentences and a NO or AGAINST is all you need.

Again, it is not about ghosts, it is about adding tons of new regulations without Congressional oversight or blessing, and you should be highly concerned with how it is being done. 

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