If anyone wonders about the level of firearms ignorance contained within the Obama Administration, read this paragraph filed as part of the legal proceeding against Ares Armor. It is from the US Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura Duffy and AUSA Daniel Butcher.
The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is conducting a lawful criminal investigation of the illegal manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of AK-15 variant lower receivers, which are considered firearms under the Firearms Control Act, 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3).Now I knew the AK-12 had been developed as the latest iteration of the AK-47 but hadn't heard anything about a AK-15. I wonder if even the Russians know about the AK-15. If not, maybe the US Attorney's Office in San Diego could tell them about it.
David Codrea has much more about the BATFE battle with Ares Armor here and here. Bob Owens at Bearing Arms has a whole series of videos taken of the raid that took place on Friday despite the existence of a restraining order against the BATFE.
Or this: "An AR-15 is the semi-automatic, civilian version of the .223 caliber M-16 machine gun used by the United States Military." It's a 5.56, not a .223; pre-ban M-16s are legally available to civilians; and the M-16 is not a machine gun, it's a rifle.
ReplyDeleteUnder US law, the M-16 variants are usually a machine gun, and even gunnies usually use M16 as shorthand for "the NFA ones".
DeleteAnd in practical terms .223 and 5.56x45 are close enough that nobody outside of SAAMI cares. (Yes, talk to me about Wylde chambers and tiny pressure differences all you want, but in the real world they're interchangeable and nobody even notices.)
So, no, that nitpicking is entirely irrelevant.
(As is the fact that a pre-86 M-16 is transferable on an NFA tax stamp; the AR-15 is still "the civilian version" in every practical sense, exactly the same way gunnies say "M16" to indicate "one of the NFA ones".)
@Jim: Good catch. I just went for the most egregious one.
ReplyDeleteIF this is a legal procedure, doesn't this false description of the the items in question make the actions null and void? Like a warrant seeking the wrong thing?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's an irrelevant typo.
DeleteThe very next paragraph and every other reference say "AR-15"; there's no ambiguity as to what is being referenced, nor is a typo a "false description", since that would be one that was knowingly or negligently false, not a typo.
(If there's any "false description" it's the description of 80% lowers as "firearms", but that's another matter entirely, and one the ATF will actually argue as its core thesis.)
Be vewy qwiet...we're hunting AK-15s. (Good luck with that.)
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ReplyDeleteJim Manley --
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of law, if it's an AR15 variant capable of burst fire or full automatic, it is an "M16", and if it's semiauto only, it's an "AR15". That's because ATF is allowed to make the definitions as to what they call AR15s that are "machineguns" under NFA and AR15s that aren't. And the NFA defines the term "machinegun" (note, no space) IN THE LAW as any gun that fires two or more shots with a single pull of teh trigger, even though that is not the technical definition of "machine gun" (note space).
Note that by ATF's definition (accepted and used by the courts, as the ATF is empowered to make technical definitions of terminology not explicitly defined in law), XM177s, M4s, M231 FPW, GAU-5s, Mk12s, any selective fire AR15s sold to police departments (even if sold by a company that has never had a federal contract), C7s, and C8s are ALL "M16s". . .
TECHNICALLY, yes, all M16s (and M4s, and XM177s, etc.) are AR15s, but ONLY those AR15s that have been designated by the US DoD as "M16" variants are "M16s". Also, technically, only a handful of full automatic or burst capable AR15 designs are "machine guns" in the small arms sense (the various HBAR LMG versions and arguably the M231 are all I can think of off the top of my head. . . an AR lower with a belt feed upper if you REALLY stretch things. . . )
The thing to realize here Jim is that the BATFE has the ball in Calvin Ball. They always have the ball, thus they get to make the rules. Its the only rule of Calvin ball. Logic, law, technical or constitutional principles do not apply.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that the illegal manufacture, distribution, sale, and possession of AK-15 should be ban as it will really useful in controlling the crime rate. It is nice to know about AK 14 very useful for the soldiers.
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