More on ATF 41P
Josh Prince, who is an attorney familiar with this area of law, has a summary of the 41P rule released last night. He notes that it has not yet been published in the Federal Register, so the clock is not currently ticking toward implementation. He also notes that there’s vagueness issues when it comes to “responsible persons”: Throughout the final rule, ATF seemingly proposes several different interpretations of what constitutes a Responsible Person based on the entity type. This results in serious questions, such as whether the language is overly vague. Are now all employees who can possess a firearm of an LLC/Corp RPs? And also, whether ATF is treating different fictitious entities differently in…
Final Version of 41P NFA Trust Rule Released
This is interesting. Originally 41P was going to require CLEO signoff on all NFA transfers, even if you were a person on a trust. I don’t have time to read thoroughly and comment as I need to hit-the-hay soon, but let the overnight and early-morning discussion begin: SUMMARY: The Department of Justice is amending the regulations ofthe Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regarding the making or transferring of a firearm undertake National Firearms Act(NFA). This final rule defines the term”responsible person,”as used in reference to a trust, partnership, association, company, or corporation; requires responsible persons of such trusts or legal entities to complete a specified form…
Attorney General Loretta Lynch Clarifies FFL Rule
I suspect President Obama is hoping for ignorant crap like this from the media to make it look like he’s really doing something: BREAKING: Obama moves to require background checks for guns bought from dealers online, at gun shows. — The Associated Press (@AP) January 4, 2016 This has always been the law if you have a Federal Firearms License, and it’s always been illegal to be selling guns for “livelihood or profit” without first obtaining an FFL. The new EOs change nothing in that regard. But we do have some guidance from the Attorney General that indicates the Administration may indeed try to prosecute marginal cases it previously would not have: Lynch insisted Monday that the new guidance on the gun…
Executive Orders: The Shoe Drops
The White House has released a press statement (which I do not yet have a link to) [UPDATE: The link can be found here.] announcing their plans. I have to say, for the most part, it’s a big nothingburger. The EO plan is far less bold and ambitious than I was expecting, but we are dealing with a semi-retired President here. Here’s some text from the press release: � � � Clarify that it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks. Background checks have been shown to keep guns out of the wrong hands, but too many gun sales—particularly online and at…
Obama’s EOs Coming This Week
There’s going to be an Obama “Town Hall” this Thursday, so it’s a safe bet the Executive Orders will be coming either that day, or a day or so before. Supposedly Obama’s spending today with AG Loretta Lynch finalizing the orders. By this point we have a pretty good idea that one of the big changes will be that anyone who sells more than 50 (the most credible number I’ve seen floated around) guns in a year will be considered “in the business” and required to obtain an FFL. As I’ve said, they can’t simultaneously stiffen the requirements for obtaining an FFL, and speak of reducing the number of FFLs as a net good while also requiring more sellers to obtain them. This problem could easily be fixed by going…