#Batfe

On today’s episode of TFB’s Behind The Gun Podcast, I’m speaking with Mike Detty, author of the book “Operation Wide Receiver” who details his experiences with the corruption and lies behind the infamous ATF gun walking scandal the book is titled after, as well as the subsequent “Operation Fast and Furious.” I recently met Mike at a Gunsite event in his home state of Arizona. Mike wasn’t very upfront about it at first but as soon as someone else mentioned his book, I immediately asked him about it and learned that he was actually involved in a precursor event to Operation Fast and Furious – Operation Wide Receiver. In today’s podcast, Mike details his experiences as he played his role as a legitimate FFL while moonlighting as an ATF informant during the operation. Mike also details why he eventually decided to do his part to expose this operation which eventually led to the far more infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Join us today as Mike gives us a few detailed explanations from his book, which quite honestly reads more like an action thriller than a retelling of actual events. If you’re interested in checking out his book, it can be found on Amazon for about $13. In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy the exciting first-hand accounts that Mike Detty has to share with us today on TFB’s Behind The Gun Podcast.

Recently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives published a major report entitled the National Firearms Commerce And Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA). This report looked at the state of the firearm industry in the United States. It contains information on many interesting trends in America’s gun trade and is worth a detailed study.

The internet has been abuzz with discussions of the new ATF “receiver rule,” which became effective on August 24, 2022. Most of that conversation has focused on changes that affect the so-called 80% receivers. However, this regulation made changes in other areas as well. Let’s take a look at how this rule will work.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves interviews Lawrence Demonico, the president of Rare Breed Triggers. Rare Breed Triggers manufactures the FRT-15 trigger, a “forced reset” trigger that permits an FRT-15 owner to shoot a semi-automatic AR-15 as fast as humanly possible while still fitting within the definition of a semi-automatic. However, Rare Breed Triggers has found itself in litigation with the BATFE over the trigger. Tonight, we talk with Lawrence Demonico about the FRT-15, Rare Breed’s struggles with the ATF, what’s happened so far, and what might happen in the future.

Still on the fence about making your Heckler & Koch SP5 into a short barrel rifle? Are you thinking about picking up a stock for your SIG Sauer MCX instead of a shoulder brace? Now may be as good a time as any.

For firearms enthusiasts, having guns seized by law enforcement is a nightmare we’d rather not think about, but unfortunately, it has been a path some gun owners have had to walk.  Finding that personal property has been mistreated, neglected or outright damaged by law enforcement, is sadly a real possibility when it comes to seized guns.  In today’s case, we’ll detail a plaintiff’s claims that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE, or ATF) damaged his seized guns, lost parts and original boxes, and perhaps even used them on other raids.

We are breaking some new ground here today in the world of the Gun Control Act (GCA) and the National Firearms Act (NFA). The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has just published a letter stating that the Franklin Armory Reformation has been reclassified as a GCA/SBS that it falls under the GCA without being an NFA controlled firearm. The Franklin Armory Reformation reclassified as a “GCA/SBS” will have an impact on the sale and interstate transportation of the firearm by current owners.

Every year the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives dishes out a handy report to grade the gun community on its performance. What I mean is that they’re releasing cold hard facts about how many guns we buy, import, sell, and manufacture. This year’s commerce numbers look like they’re coming up just a little short compared to previous years and Matthew McConaughey is not impressed.

A news article with a heading that is fit for satire is unfortunately true. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( BATFE or ATF) is often tasked with the destruction of firearms that are no longer serviceable as duty weapons or are obtained through criminal activity and are no longer needed as evidence. In either scenario and potentially others, the ATF will then file a ton of paperwork (because that is the fun government thing to do) stating that “X” amount of firearms are to be destroyed. Well, that very vague “X” now has severe importance because the ATF is attempting to track down a significant amount of firearms that were stolen by an ATF agent and sold for a personal profit.

Walking down the row of long-distance bolt action rifle displays, my husband and I were focused on allowing the participating manufacturers get set up for Industry Day at the Range tomorrow and trying to stay out of the way.

This is rather funny. Someone took an ATF Guy patch and placed it behind their machine gun NFA lower. For those not familiar with full auto AR-15/M-16, the ATF Guy is peeking through the third pin hole for the auto sear.

The effort to deregulate of silencers has reached an important milestone: The Hearing Protection Act has made it out of committee, and been incorporated as part of another larger bill. House Resolution 3668 – the Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act – has been introduced to the House floor with a new subsection, Title XV, Hearing Protection. The new subsection provides for the change in classification of silencers from NFA items to standard firearms such as long guns, just like the HPA. Its text is reproduced at the bottom of this post.

In an actual blessing bestowed upon the National Firearms Act (NFA) community as a whole, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has begun rapid approvals of Form 3 transfers between dealers, distributors and manufacturers. In case you aren’t an NFA process nerd like myself, these non-taxed transactions occur between FFL holders to move registered items that will most likely be sold and transferred to consumers.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information released a report earlier this month that lists the number of firearms stolen or lost from a Federal Firearms Licence holders for last year. The FFL Thefts/Losses United States report is short but contains a good bit of information that I thought readers might find as interesting as I did.

In what appears to fly in the face of the Bureau’s prior attitudes towards enforcement of gun laws, a white paper by BATFE Associate  Deputy Director Ronald Turk was recently leaked which proposed loosening or modifying gun regulations in sixteen ways, to be discussed below. If you have not yet read Nicholas’ post on the leak, you can do that, and also follow the link here to the white paper itself. In this article, I’ll be taking a (hopefully) brief look at what the white paper means and why it’s so significant (and it is significant, don’t get me wrong).