Obama Issues Executive Orders to Screw Us

Well, Obama promises, and Obama delivers on when it comes to screwing gun owners. We have two new executive orders on guns. First:

Closing a Loophole to Keep Some of the Most Dangerous Guns Out of the Wrong Hands

Current law places special restrictions on many of the most dangerous weapons, such as machine guns and short-barreled shotguns.  These weapons must be registered, and in order to lawfully possess them, a prospective buyer must undergo a fingerprint-based background check.

However, felons, domestic abusers, and others prohibited from having guns can easily evade the required background check and gain access to machine guns or other particularly dangerous weapons by registering the weapon to a trust or corporation.  At present, when the weapon is registered to a trust or corporation, no background check is run.  ATF reports that last year alone, it received more than 39,000 requests for transfers of these restricted firearms to trusts or corporations.

Today, ATF is issuing a new proposed regulation to close this loophole.  The proposed rule requires individuals associated with trusts or corporations that acquire these types of weapons to undergo background checks, just as these individuals would if the weapons were registered to them individually.  By closing this loophole, the regulation will ensure that machine guns and other particularly dangerous weapons do not end up in the wrong hands.

The idea that criminals and other prohibited persons are using NFA trusts as a construct to skirt background checks is laughable. This is a middle finger extended in our direction, and not much more than that. How is this going to work? There are some corporations that legitimately own NFA firearms, such as museums. Does everyone in the corporation have to go through the FBI fingerprint check? Does each person in the corporation or trust have to undergo LEO signoff? There’s a lot of devil that will be in the details here. But that’s not all:

Keeping Surplus Military Weapons Off Our Streets

When the United States provides military firearms to its allies, either as direct commercial sales or through the foreign military sales or military assistance programs, those firearms may not be imported back into the United States without U.S. government approval.  Since 2005, the U.S. Government has authorized requests to reimport more than 250,000 of these firearms.

Today, the Administration is announcing a new policy of denying requests to bring military-grade firearms back into the United States to private entities, with only a few exceptions such as for museums.  This new policy will help keep military-grade firearms off our streets.

Yeah, surplus military weapons sold after the era of the M1 are going to be machine guns are aren’t re-importable already by statute. What Obama is keeping out here are historical pieces like the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine. This is also just a way to put the screws to us.

Keep it up Mr. President. We’ll keep defeating you, boxing you into a corner, and otherwise destroying your agenda. You can lash out at us in a childish tantrum all you want. In the end we will prevail over you.

UPDATE: Looks like the AP is already helping the Administration spin this as the greatest thing since sliced bread rather than the load of horse shit it really is.

UPDATE: John Lott takes the AP to task.

29 thoughts on “Obama Issues Executive Orders to Screw Us”

  1. I would counter that the NFA trust “loophole” is not a loophole at all, but rather a legitimate way around the local LEO signoff, which is in reality nothing more than a Jim Crow measure designed to ensure that only whites have access to NFA items.

    When you consider the fact that the original proposed NFA included all handguns and that when you adjust for inflation, $200 would be about $3500 today, it becomes clear that the intent was to make it nearly impossible for anybody but the rich to have access to any useful firearms.

    1. Agreeded. I wouldn’t be shocked if the big bit was to force in CLEO signoff and find some way to rasise prices.

      Because the antis really don’t mind guns, they just hate the proles having guns.

  2. These are solely designed as a slap in the face of gun owners for helping to defeat Obama’s attempt at gun control in Congress. Neither of these measures have anything to do with reducing violence, crime, or anything else except to punish those who snubbed Obama.

    1. These are solely designed as a slap in the face of gun owners for helping to defeat Obama’s attempt at gun control in Congress.

      This. Absolutely this.

      It’s the very definition of “petulant”.

      1. Petulant? Well, yeah.

        This is the guy who wants to bomb Syria, not because there’s any side in this fight that a sensible American would like to see victorious, but because Assad made him look like a spineless nonentity.

        It must be hell to have been told you’re awesome so long and so often that you fall into the trap of believing it. Fortunately for us mortals, we have friends and families, not worshipers.

    1. Well, you are obviously not as in touch with inner city violence as our president.

  3. Stop me if I’m wrong, but a convicted felon – even assuming he/she has set up a NFA trust – is still barred by federal law from taking possession of the NFA firearm. That first executive order is a solution in search of a problem and a straight up slap-in-the-face to legitimate NFA trust holders.

    The second one is an attempt to leverage the laws of supply and demand to limit ownership of military relics to wealthy elites. The ATF’s own documents justify denying importation of hundreds of thousands of M1 Garands, M1 Carbines, and M1911 pistols by saying that increasing the available supply will drive down the price of these firearms, and claiming the M1 Carbine and M1911 can be used as “crime guns.” IOW, “they’re guns and they might get cheaper; this must be stopped.”

    (I have a hard copy of that ATF document somewhere, but it seems to have disappeared from the Internets. If you can find it, great. If not, take my word for it: it’s as hysterical and ridiculous as anything from CSGV.)

    1. If I am not mistaken, they can only do it with US-produced guns exported as military aid, which require a waiver for reimportation. Other, foreign-made, military surplus weapons are statutorily protected by FOPA.

  4. I went out and bought an old military assault weapon today as an FU to this policy.

    Okay, I was going to buy it anyway.

    And it is only a Type 53 Chinese Mosin Nagant, not a refugee wanting to come home.

  5. This guy. This F’n guy.

    So, basically out of pure spite, he shut down the Civilian Marksmanship Program and assured that no collector will ever get an inexpensive Garand again. Because we made him mad.

    We are ruled by a child

    1. To be fair, Bill Clinton was the President who actually did shut down the Department of Civilian Marksmanship. DCM was a governmental agency. CMP is a private non-profit.

  6. It is a good thing that I bought a M1 Garand back in 08. I got a good deal on it from the CMP. I also have a 1911A1 made in 1943, marked U.S. Army, United States Property. Therefore Mr. President you are welcome to kiss my donkey!

    1. With respect, what about the rest of us who don’t yet have the collectibles we’d like to have?

      I’d be ecstatic to have a serviceable example of each of the three firearms we’re talking about: M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, M1911 (or M1911A1). They’re in high demand, and sadly, we’re not getting any more, so the supply is low, which drives the cost higher than many of us can afford.

      Again, no disrespect intended when I say: I’m happy you have yours, but I’d like some, too.

  7. I’m having trouble understanding the purpose of this…I guess to appease the gun control advocates who’ve been crying about M1 carbines for a while now, since he couldn’t give them legislation? The other potential purpose I see is maybe to stir up more vigorous and lasting opposition to gun control, to give the lasting impression of Republican intransigence…stopping obstructionism is already a thing Democratic politicians use to rally support from their base, so they might be hoping that keeping the Republicans demonstrably in-character will keep the Democratic base motivated to turn out in 2014 and 2016. Then again, do they really think gun control is THAT popular? We’re pretty much the only ones still paying attention, besides the REALLY hardcore nuts on the gun control side…Maybe the gun control nuts are getting restless?

    Either way, I guess this means they’ve given up on resurrecting a gun control “compromise?” Because poking me in the eye isn’t the way to get me to agree to things, and is really only likely to make me more disagreeable.

      1. Yep, the original one traded some limits for CLEO elimination. It was a controversial tradeoff in NFA land. The new one enhances the CLEO bit and may invalidate trusts in hostile-CLEO territory. (IANAL). This will not be controversial in NFA land, meaning NFA guys are not going to disagree with each other over it. It’s a sandwich, the stuffing of which I will not insult our kind hosts by naming.

        PS — thanks for the NPRM links, I’ll add them to my own story.

  8. Well this will dry up the supply for CMP, Its a shame cause it got ppl involved in shooting sports. Thats the idea anyway to kill them off.
    I bet M-2 ball ammo will be next.

    Can congress overturn or over ride EO , or Write a law that makes these EO ineffective?

  9. For this coverage and everything else, I want to thank Sebastian and Bitter for providing consistent gun rights coverage that extends beyond Pennsylvania.

    This blog and David Hardy’s Of Arms and the Law are my two most-visited sites for that topic.

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