Feinstein: executive action to ban import of semi-autos based on 1968 GC Act...

[ezkl2230]

Not only is she pestering her cohorts in crime on the hill to outlaw more firearms, she sent the following letter to Pres. Obama:

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:

During your State of the Union address, you stated that you want to make 2014 a “year of action.” We write to urge you to take immediate action to address the significant number of assault weapons that are being imported into the United States in contravention of federal law. We respectfully request that you take steps to ensure that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) fully enforces the ban on the importation of these military-style firearms.

A provision of the Gun Control Act of 1968, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3), prohibits the importation of firearms that are not “generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes.” In recent years, however, importers of firearms have taken advantage of ATF’s interpretation of the “sporting purposes” test to evade the import ban. In 1998, the Department of the Treasury — which then housed ATF — issued guidance that interpreted the import ban to prohibit only semiautomatic rifles that use magazines originally designed for a military rifle. Many semiautomatic firearms on the market today do not have a military origin but are modeled closely after military firearms. These military-style firearms are not prohibited under the current import ban, even though they are functionally equivalent to prohibited rifles with a military origin. In addition, the Treasury Department’s 1998 guidance allows foreign-made firearms to be imported into the United States without military features, even though these firearms have the capacity to fire multiple times in quick succession without the need to reload and can easily have military features attached.

As a result of the Treasury Department’s unnecessarily restrictive interpretation of the sporting purposes test, imports of military-style weapons have increased dramatically in recent years, helping to fuel deadly gun violence along the Southwest border and in neighboring Mexico. According to data obtained from the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission and analyzed by The Center for Public Integrity, 2.96 million rifles and handguns were imported into the United States in 2009, more than double the 1.32 million firearms imported in 2005. In January of this year, Russia’s Kalashnikov gun maker announced that it plans to sell in the United States up to 200,000 rifles and shotguns, many of which are designed after the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. An analysis by the Violence Policy Center found that more than 700 Romanian AK-47 variant rifles were identified in 134 federal gun trafficking prosecutions involving illegal smuggling from the United States to Mexico and other Latin American countries.

For example, one imported Romanian AK firearm, the WASR-10, was carefully designed to exploit the sporting purposes test and has become a favorite of the gun traffickers that profit by arming Mexican drug trafficking organizations. The importer of the WASR-10, Century International Arms, circumvents the import ban by taking the following steps: First, the company imports the inexpensive weapon without any military features, to avoid contravening the ban. Next, the weapon is disassembled, and American-made parts are added, to make the weapon “American-made,” not “foreign-made.” The magazine well is also modified to accept higher capacity ammunition magazines. Finally, assault features — which would be illegal if added to a foreign-made weapon — are added to the now-American-made weapon, rendering the weapon an assault rifle for all practical purposes. The resulting firearm is then sold on the civilian market, either to be used in violent acts here at home or smuggled across the border into Mexico.

WASR-10s have repeatedly been found in the arsenals of top drug kingpins and their associates. For example, at least one WASR-10 was used in May 2008 to kill eight police officers in Culiacan, Mexico, a city in the northwestern part of the country. An analysis conducted by The Center for Public Integrity found that, over the last four years, WASR-10 rifles comprised more than 17% of the firearms recovered at Mexican crime scenes and successfully traced back to the United States. In all, according to a memorandum by the Council on Foreign Relations published in July 2013, over 70% of the 99,000 weapons recovered by Mexican law enforcement since 2007 were traced to U.S. manufacturers and importers.

We urge ATF to close the loopholes that allow the importation of military-style weapons into the United States. Such an approach should, at a minimum:

• Prohibit importation of all semiautomatic rifles that can accept, or be readily converted to accept, a large capacity ammunition magazine of more than 10 rounds, regardless of the military pedigree of the firearm or the configuration of the firearm’s magazine well;
• Prohibit semiautomatic rifles with fixed magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds;
• Prohibit the importation of the frame or receiver of any prohibited rifle, regardless of whether it is incorporated into a fully manufactured firearm;
• Prohibit the practice of importing assault rifles in parts and then constructing the rifles once they are in the United States by adding the requisite number of American-made parts;
• Prohibit the use of a “thumbhole” stock as a means to avoid classification of a rifle as an assault rifle; and
• Prohibit the importation of assault pistols, in addition to assault rifles.

We urge you to review enforcement of the sporting purposes test and take the necessary regulatory steps to stop the importation of all military-style, non-sporting firearms, and the assembly of those firearms from imported parts. We have endured too many funerals and mourned the loss of too many innocent lives to accept less than full enforcement of the import ban. Thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Feinstein pushes for semi-automatic rifle import ban based on 45-year-old law | The Daily Caller

Feinstein readily recognizes that these firearms were never intended for military use, they are civilian firearms that happen to look like military firearms. Still, based on her psychotic fear of all firearms that resemble military firearms as well as her personal interpretation of what constitutes "generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes," she is asking for Obama to use executive action to essentially prohibit the import of the vast majority of semi-auto long guns and pistols that happen to meet her criteria of an "assault weapon."

Folks, we need to burn up the phone lines to DC. In referring to the Gun Control Act of 1968, Feinstein is giving Obama the reason he has needed to take executive action.

 

[ventman]

How many AR-15s are made in the US vs imported?

 

[ezkl2230]

None that I know of, but this would essentially end import of all AKs, FN SCARs, Beretta Cx4 Storms, and even H&K or FN pistols, just to give a few examples. We import a HUGE number of firearms from overseas that would be banned under Feinstein's definition of an "assault weapon."

 

[gunnerbob]

This will likely continue the buying spree around the country, of which I'm so happy is happening. Go get 'em while they're still available, people. I may be delusional (it's hard to know for sure if you're delusional... if you're delusional. HA!) but, I want to believe that that 'ole "powder keg" analogy is true. At some point, perhaps another five or ten years down the road... enough people are going to say, "Fvck it! Let's do this!" and wave good bye to the American Dream lifestyle and become the most militant mother fvcker you could ever imagine. If we do this right, that individual would be joined by another few hundred thousand militant mother fvckers who've prepared to do what most won't, to get our Liberty back.

Which side of the barrier are you going to be on?

 

[longslide10]

That piece of fascist political rhino excrement needs to take a fall down a very long and steep flight of cement stairs and it should be filmed and televised so we can take bets on what point of the "fall" her spine would snap...or does she even have one. Can ya feel the love?

 

[jcreek]

Wow..I like how she used the term "unnecessarily restrictive" to lobby for a MORE RESTRICTIVE ban. She's more worried about the rights of the ATF's "sporting purposes test" than she is about the rights of the peons beneath her.

 

[bofh]

Political grand standing in an election year, nothing to else. A wide import ban on semiautomatic rifles will just result in a compensating boost of domestic production for the domestic market. Meanwhile, (probably non-firearm related) US exports will suffer retaliatory action by foreign governments as they see a wide import ban as a preferential treatment of US manufacturing.

 

[BluesStringer]

This will likely continue the buying spree around the country, of which I'm so happy is happening. Go get 'em while they're still available, people. I may be delusional (it's hard to know for sure if you're delusional... if you're delusional. HA!) but, I want to believe that that 'ole "powder keg" analogy is true. At some point, perhaps another five or ten years down the road... enough people are going to say, "Fvck it! Let's do this!" and wave good bye to the American Dream lifestyle and become the most militant mother fvcker you could ever imagine. If we do this right, that individual would be joined by another few hundred thousand militant mother fvckers who've prepared to do what most won't, to get our Liberty back.

Which side of the barrier are you going to be on?

As to the last question, I know you don't have to ask me. We have been simpatico since the first post of yours I saw.

As to the rest, the unspeakable truth of the matter is that every Patriot wishes for an unspeakable truth to befall the not-so-fine Mrs. Feinstein, as well as about 525, maybe 530 other elected federal officials. Well, and then there's another four or five life-time appointed federal officials, Hell, maybe nine of them too.

Blues

 

[gunnerbob]

As to the last question, I know you don't have to ask me. We have been simpatico since the first post of yours I saw.

As to the rest, the unspeakable truth of the matter is that every Patriot wishes for an unspeakable truth to befall the not-so-fine Mrs. Feinstein, as well as about 525, maybe 530 other elected federal officials. Well, and then there's another four or five life-time appointed federal officials, Hell, maybe nine of them too.

Blues

There's a special place in hell for doing what I'd do to those I deem tyrants and usurpers of the Freedom and Liberty I swore my life and honor on, a set of ideals I believe to be the only measures satisfactory to allow humans to live the life we deserve, and that of the life I told my children they would have after I'm gone.

I fear what may happen if we continue down the path we are, I fear what may happen to me and what may be left to my family. I fear what may happen if Patriots stand next to me and others like me on the day of days. There's something you learn about yourself when faced with evil, death and destruction... I learned that as much as I detest the idea of unjustified war at the expense of innocents, I will not hesitate to enter into conflict if it is for what I hold dearest. I learned that I have a capacity for violence that most in society don't have, I learned that it is easier to take a life than most people think. I discovered what constitutes my soul, what I believed down to my bones and what troubles my conscience daily now.

For those who have never been there, I caution you to venture slowly into the darkness of conflict and avoid it at nearly all costs. I'm telling you all now, if we go down this road... there is no turning back and there is no regular life to go back to. Reality as you know it will cease to exist and you will witness things you'd wish you'd never had... or done.

Think about, seriously. This isn't a game and it isn't like what you think it's going to be, it's worse... much worse. All of you had be damned sure you're prepared to do what you think we may have to do. Violence is not encouraged and I warn everyone against it. All other means must be exhausted before going there.

 

[sdprof]

Why wasn't she on MH370?

 

[BluesStringer]

As with all things Bob, when considering what it will take to meet the enemies of freedom, I turn to the Framers, and the best way I can reply to your eloquent and impassioned plea for poise, forbearance and quiet fortitude until there is no other choice, is to quote from the Declaration of Independence the list of grievances that were so intolerable they could no longer remain patient for redress. Going just by this list, perhaps there should've been a little waterin' of the Tree of Liberty every so often to remind the "King(s)" who's really boss, and we wouldn't be starin' a full-on civil war in the face right now. Anyway, the number of similar injuries and usurpations that our country's Framers faced are staggering.

The history of the present King of Great Britain [modern SCOTUS, Congresses and The Executive] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

This, of course, is a much different time than our Framers fought for liberty in. The variances in efficacy, body-counts and clear winners and losers between 1st Generation Warfare (our Revolution) and Fourth Generation Warfare* (3 separate links - present-day) are many times more staggering than the similarities between what an organized recounting of our list of grievances would be compared to the DoI's.

And I know this post is long and that some have stopped reading awhile back, but that third link seemed so apropos to what you're saying, Bob, that I hope you'll read the rest after I post a quote I think you'll like, or at the very least, understand and appreciate.

The link is from Mike Vanderboegh's blog, Sipsey Street Irregulars. The piece on that page is drawing attention to Mike's upcoming novel, "Absolved," and his hope that it will be seen as a "useful dire warning" as he writes candidly about the burgeoning dissatisfaction with government bubbling just under the surface of our once-great civilization. Here's the excerpt:

One wonders what might have happened prior to September 11, 2001 if someone in authority had taken Tom Clancy’s “useful dire warnings” about a pilot deliberately flying a fuel-laden jet into the Capitol building and killing the President and top leadership (Debt of Honor , 1994; Executive Orders, 1996) about enemies of this country crashing airliners into public buildings in Washington, D.C. Clancy himself reacted to the 11 September 1001 attacks by Al Qaeda:

"Four planes? That many people willing to die for the same cause at the same time? If any writer had turned in a story like this, the publisher would have just handed it back and said, 'No way. Not believable.' "
​

I can only hope that readers will take my own “useful dire warning” more seriously. If one does ultimately break out, I will be as guilty of fomenting it as Tom Clancy was guilty of 9/11 -- which is to say not at all. It is precisely what I am trying to avoid. . .

But the vignettes that will hopefully coalesce into a narrative that flows from the terrible opening to a logical conclusion (and I hope a good read in between) are also presented with such detail for a purpose. If this book is to operate as a "useful dire warning," then both real sides in my imaginary civil war must be able to recognize the real threat to avoid the conflict.

You may ask, which sides and what kind of conflict?

On one side, just as in 1775, will be the Three Percent, on the other, Locke’s “Arbitrary Power” -- and it will be a Fourth Generation War. All three concepts require explanation.

(Emphasis added.)

You will have to go to the link to get the explanations of "all three concepts," but there ya go, the "wait until there is no other choice" meme has been at the forefront of all principled Patriot movements since before our country was a country. We are no different, but neither is sitting in frozen silence and not giving warnings a principled plan of action. Feinstein is giving warnings. Obama warns. gunnerbob, Mike Vanderboegh, I and many others warn nearly daily. 300,000 CT gun owners have issued a warning through principled defiance, which, so far, has been a warning of inaction. As with the .fedgov, it is up to the tyrants to determine if, when or whether it must turn to an actionable warning.

I hope I never have to witness or participate in the things you describe above, Bob, but there is no hope at all in what I'm about to say, just resolute commitment; I will not die a slave or a subject. I will die a free man, even if my very last act of freedom is to pull a trigger.

Blues

 

[S&W645]

Why wasn't she on MH370?

Because she is still useful to 0bama.

 

[Deanimator]

She seems to be working to GUARANTEE that the Republicans take the Senate.

You don't think Reince Priebus is paying her off, do you?

 

[Firefighterchen]

There's a special place in hell for doing what I'd do to those I deem tyrants and usurpers of the Freedom and Liberty I swore my life and honor on, a set of ideals I believe to be the only measures satisfactory to allow humans to live the life we deserve, and that of the life I told my children they would have after I'm gone.

...Violence is not encouraged and I warn everyone against it. All other means must be exhausted before going there.

Going to hell would imply what you did was wrong...Do you think our founding fathers went to hell for killing those who have done lesser infringements than what our government is doing today?

At some point, violence will be futile...maybe that point has passed...but talking is obviously not working.

Sent from my HTCONE using USA Carry mobile app

 

[RobbK]

The good news is she recognizes that there is no way in Hades this would make it through congress to get on the presidents desk. I would hope obama recognizes what would happen if he did this with a stroke of his pen but I wonder if he would actually care. With the washington post publishing a story that over 50% of republicans think the only way to change government is with a armed conflict I think they are projecting where they are heading. They WANT a armed conflict to arise that way the dear leader could claim martial law and never leave office. we live in interesting times

 

[gunnerbob]

Going to hell would imply what you did was wrong...Do you think our founding fathers went to hell for killing those who have done lesser infringements than what our government is doing today?

At some point, violence will be futile...maybe that point has passed...but talking is obviously not working.

Sent from my HTCONE using USA Carry mobile app

In the potential battle to come, I don't foresee the traditional images of combat. No red vs blue or officers and gentlemen striving for moral killing. Trials by jury won't take place on either side of the divide, decisions to take a life or not will be made by individuals... outside of the traditional battlefield. Men will have to choose to put down the opposition even after they have surrendered or been detained. Why leave a living enemy? Are you prepared to put two in the backs of skulls that belong to the enemy? Patriots have no prisons, no place to put criminals within the government... are you willing to let them be locked in your bunker or basement? Are you going to let them go? Or, are you going to inform them of their crimes against The People, declare their fate and execute? The fine lines between moral and immoral are never more blurred than during armed conflict. If there is a God, it would only be him who could decide whether or not what was done was just. I don't believe in God, not the traditional kind anyway... I don't presume to know where I am to go after I die. I will tell you though, I will be the one to make the hard choices and I will not hesitate to eliminate my enemy... regardless of the circumstances.

If we intend to travel this road, I advise each of you to HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AND CLARIFY YOUR RESOLVE.

 

[nontechguy]

We are definitely in the middle times. (Not to be confused with the biblical end times)
As Claire Wolfe said:
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, and too soon to shoot the bastards."

 

[Ringo]

Being one who reads and understands scripture I find this all so "Bitter-Sweet". Bitter because I know that everyone's worst nightmare scenario will soon become a horrific reality and the death & suffering will be far beyond anyone's imagination. Sweet is experiencing a peace that comes only from God, knowing that my family and I won't be here to witness nor suffer the horror soon to come. The people living around Noah had 120 years worth of warnings regarding the doom that was to come upon the whole earth, they went about their business and basically ignored him, never comprehending the danger they were in. They grew deaf to his warnings. People alive today have had over 2000 years worth of warnings from the Bible regarding what would happen in these last days, right before Jesus would snatch His bride home and pour out His wrath upon this wicked world. If those in Noah’s day didn’t take his warnings seriously for 120 years, how much less are the people of our day taking seriously the warnings we Christians and the Bible give for the wrath that is about to fall on this earth? They scoff. They deny God even exists and vehemently want nothing to do with Him! Warnings don't work, they only frighten people and piss them off.

The evil in this world is growing stronger, more violent and cruel every day. Even those who are unsaved sense it and feel uneasy. I shudder to think of those Left Behind to face the jack-booted thugs, gleeful about the authority they’ll be given over the populace, free to steal and rape and kill to their dark heart’s content. I get sick thinking of all those hundreds of thousands of Americans who will be hustled out of their homes, taken to some FEMA camp which is already staffed and waiting to receive them; separated from their spouses and children and at the mercy of demonically influenced goons whose greatest pleasure will be to torture and exterminate those in their charge, those who won’t hesitate to slaughter small children in front of their parents, just to see the suffering in their helpless eyes. Think it can’t happen? Yeah, that’s what the Jews and Germans thought too. It CAN and it WILL happen very soon here in what used to be the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” It goes without question, we are living in the final days of these last days of this Last Generation. People who don’t know the Lord are running out of time. "Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man". Don't get Left Behind.