Laws And Regulations

The laws for Canadian shooters just keep getting tighter and tighter. This summer, the RCMP is sending out a memo to licensed firearms owners and letting them know that as of September 1, a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) is required to buy firearms barrels and handgun slides.

On Monday, July 22, lawyers for the city of Chicago filed paperwork to end their high-profile lawsuit against Glock. Does this mean a big legal win for the Austrian gunmaker, and for American shooters? No. Instead of giving up in their aggressive legal battle, Chicago’s leaders are doubling down, and expanding their lawsuit.

Happy Canada Day to our hoser readers—but if you’re a Canadian shooter, can you be happy at all, or is your life a big ball of depression thanks to ever-increasing gun laws? The reality is that yes, Canadian firearms laws are very strict, but they’re not always as strict as shooters from other countries might imagine. Or at least they weren’t until very recently, and that might change soon with a new government. On July 1, Canuckistan’s national holiday of Canada Day, let’s take a look at the shooting scene in Canada.

The last few years have seen a slew of lawsuits and court activity around guns. The latest major action comes from the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in the case Garland v. Cargill, which challenged the ban on bump stocks. SCOTUS struck down that ban, so it's time to take a look at what exactly the decision says, and what it might mean for the future.

Once again, we have a story about an ATF regulation being stopped by a judge. The ATF brace ban is now dead thanks to a judge in Texas. Let's dig into the opinion and see what it says.

Firearms owners in Rhode Island need to know that the state's government has just passed new laws about gun storage. The TL/DR is: If you're not using 'em, lock 'em up.

Vermont’s state leadership has moved to allow hunting with a suppressor in the state indefinitely, thanks to a law passed at the start of June. Some readers may recall that this is actually the culmination of a process that started quite a while back. In 2021, Vermont’s legislators considered the Hearing Protection Act which proposed suppressors be legalized for hunting. The politicians did eventually legalize hunting with a suppressor in June of 2022, but that law was set to expire after two years.

Everyone knows that firearms can be dangerous if they are misused, but in the state of New York, leaders are going to make firearms retailers preach that message to their customers.

The ATF published (yet another) new administrative rule that impacts many American gun owners. We previously covered the “engaged in the business” rule when it was proposed last year. The final version of that rule is now published, but it has already been stayed by a judge. Let’s look at what this rule says, and who it applies to.

Recently, the ATF has issued warning notices concerning three specific muzzle devices manufactured by Lethal Eye, a DBA for KBC Capital LLC. These devices, the M074, M079, and M099 muzzle brakes, are now classified as silencers by the ATF. A letter that one of my clients received is pictured below.

The bill for the Canadian federal government’s current gun grab stands at nearly $42M CAD right now—and the cash-for-seizure program doesn’t appear to be remotely close to getting guns from individual firearms owners.

Across the United States, gun control laws seem to be loosening or being nixed altogether at a very quick rate. The latest news of more liberal gun control measures (as in, classically liberal) comes from Florida. The state’s House of Representatives recently voted to lower the minimum age of legal firearms purchase from 21 to 18 years. However, this time around, the law will not pass, thanks to the state Senate.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the brand new YHM 338 Bad Larry Suppressor. Last week we used a bit of liquid to make some small cans quieter. Today, because we are starting to see very fast approvals of eForm applications, here are five suppressors you could be shooting by next week. You heard correctly, next weekend. Stay with me and I’ll explain.

The dominos just keep falling, one after another. Only a few days after Louisiana’s state legislature approved permitless carry, South Carolina’s leaders approved a similar law, but it only applies to open carry.

Unless there’s a major turn of events, it appears the state of Louisiana is about to legalize permitless concealed carry. The news comes as a majority of the state’s representatives voted to pass Senate Bill 1 on February 28. The Secretary of the Senate has passed the bill on to Governor Jeff Landry.

Iowans may soon see guns in schools—legally—under the new Students First Safety Act. Iowa’s state legislature recently passed the Students First Safety Act with 61 percent of the house voting in favor of the law (which is now labeled as HF2586). Note that this does not mean the act is law at this point—it must still be approved by Iowa’s state senate.

Good evening everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the brand new YHM 338 Bad Larry Suppressor. Last week we pulled out an old favorite – the MK12 and the Allen Engineering AEM5 .223 suppressor. This week we are going to discuss the ATF eForms update and some upcoming suppressor projects for 2024. Let’s get to it.

The classic .22LR rifle with a long tube magazine is a standard feature in rural American households. Millions of farm boys started their shooting careers with a Marlin Model 60 or similar rifle that would take almost half a box of rimfire shells… but in Minnesota, some lawmakers are considering rimfire tube mag restrictions that would see those rifles banned as “assault weapons.”

Canada: Is it America’s hat? A repository of peaceful moose and beaver, but no guns? While the country does indeed have some whacky gun laws, Canadian gun owners are like Australian gun owners: Always doing the best they can with the current rules. And right now, Canadians are applying for firearms licenses in record numbers, even as the government cracks down with tough rhetoric backing laws that are written with little basis in fact.

Writing about lawsuits involving guns could be a full-time gig here at TFB. Unlike the recent raft of lawsuits challenging various gun control measures, we have a good old-fashioned patent suit today. The parties are names you probably already know, Palmetto State Armory and Shield Arms.

Our friends at Silencer Central sent over the details on H.R. 6352, the Tax Stamp Revenue Transfer for Wildlife and Recreation Act. This proposed bill would redirect National Firearms Act (NFA) making and transfer taxes from being deposited into the general treasury fund to wildlife conservation programs and NFA application processing enhancements. As the NFA tax collection stands, proceeds are not used for any specific purpose and are instead deposited into the treasury.

One of the most popular micro-compact pistols in the nation has just become a bit more accessible to even more Americans with the launch of the new CA Compliant SIG Sauer P365. The new California-compliant P365 obviously had to go through the rigorous maze that is the California Roster of Certified Handguns.  Aside from the live-fire testing procedures, the pistol also has to be capped at 10 rounds, and feature a loaded chamber indicator, and a magazine disconnect.

The National Association for Gun Rights won a major victory in their case defending forced reset triggers (FRTs). A district court in Texas just granted a preliminary injunction against the ATF that prevents them from treating FRTs as machine guns. However, this is not the end of the forced reset trigger fight.

It’s that time (yet again) when we need to dig into a newly proposed ATF Rule. This time their target is expanding the definition of “engaged in the business” of gun dealing. So might you be a gun dealer under this potential rule? Possibly.

The Honorable Judge David Herrera Urias has blocked the New Mexico gun ban. This is a temporary measure, but this bodes well for the future. Let’s look at what this order did (and did not) do.

The drama continues with the New Mexico gun ban. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order is so wildly out of line with the current law that her Attorney General is refusing to defend it in court. If that sounds like a pretty serious rebuke, that’s because it is. 

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham just took the unprecedented step of banning open and concealed carry in parts of the state under the guise of a public health order. “But doesn’t that fly directly in the face of the 2022 Supreme Court case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen?” you might ask. Well yes, it very plainly does. Let’s unpack where this order came from and where it is going to go. 

The hits just keep on coming in the lawsuits against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF took their most recent L on June 30th in the case VanDerStok v. Garland in the Northern District of Texas (case number 4:22-cv-00691-O). Let’s go through this decision, what it means, and what it may signal for other issues.

A federal judge has vacated the ATF Final Rule that changed the definition of what constitutes a firearm under federal law in the United States. I am going to leave the full legal analysis to someone more qualified such as our own Daniel Y., but the big takeaway here is that the U.S. Congress passes laws that agencies are entrusted to enforce, not to redefine as they deem appropriate. Please see the press release from the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) at the end of this article.

The U.S. House of Representatives passes House Joint Resolution 44 on June 13th. What does this mean for owners of pistol braces? Is this really that big of a deal?