To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Subject: INFO: Letter to BATF on proposed regulations Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 17:25:27 -0400 From: Chris BeHanna As some of you (I hope) know by now, BATF is proposing regulations to implement last year's Crime-of-a-Bill. The regulations are available at NRA's Web site, ftp site, etc., as 95-04-07._BA. From a web browser, click on "current news", go to the bottom, and click on "old items". The notice is near the bottom of the page you end up at. Anyway, public comment is invited up to July 5, 1995. Get those letters out FAST! I have enclosed below a sample of the letter I am sending. Copies of this will go to my two Senators, my Congressman, to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the BATF, Reps. Istook, Brewster, Volkmer, and Chenoweth, and Senator Larry Craig. This is sure to get me on the short list. :-( Send your comments to the address below, and write "Attn: Notice No. 807" somewhere on the envelope and on the letter. ----- Begin included text ----- June 28, 1995 Christopher G. BeHanna [Address deleted...] Chief, Regulations Branch Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms P.O. Box 50221 Washington, DC 20091-0221 Attn: Notice No. 807 To Whom It May Concern, This letter concerns proposed regulations proposed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) pursuant to Public Law 103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (the Act), signed into law on September 13, 1994 (the Date) by President Clinton. Where the term ``BATF'' is used below, it is intended to expressly include BATF, the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary), the President of the United States (the President), and any other official or employee, elected or otherwise, of the United States. ``Civilian'' means any person who is not currently a local or federal law enforcement officer and/or who is not currently an employee or officer of the United States Government or United States Armed Forces. The proposed regulations intend to prohibit the importation and subsequent sale to civilians of detachable rifle and pistol magazines having a capacity greater than ten (10) rounds, regardless of their date of manufacture, under the auspices of the Act. BATF was given no authority to promulgate such a prohibition under the Act, as the aforementioned magazines do not meet the definition of ``large capacity ammunition feeding devices'' as defined in the Act unless those magazines were manufactured after September 13, 1994. The definition is in Title XI of the Act, f110103(b), recorded at 108 Stat. 1999, which reads as follows: (b) DEFINITION OF LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICE.-Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by section 110102(b), is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(31) The term `large capacity ammunition feeding device'- ``(A) means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device manufactured after the date of enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition; but ``(B) does not include an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.''. [Emphasis added] As you can clearly see from the emphasized section, BATF was given no authority whatsoever in the Act to prohibit the importation and subsequent sale to, possession by, or transfer between civilians of magazines holding greater than ten (10) rounds of ammunition that were manufactured prior to September 13, 1994, which is the date of enactment of the Act. Such magazines are not ``large capacity ammunition feeding devices'' within the meaning of the Act, and therefore are not banned by the Act, regardless of their country of origin. Furthermore, f110103(d) of the Act provides that magazines manufactured prior to the date of enactment of the Act do not require any serial number or date of manufacture stamp, and, furthermore, any magazine lacking such a stamp is assumed by the law to have been manufactured prior to the date of enactment of the Act. Hence, BATF has no authority to prohibit the importation and subsequent sale to, possession by, or transfer between civilians of rifle and pistol magazines holding greater than ten (10) rounds of ammunition, regardless of whether or not they are possessed of a stamp or serial number indicating the date of their manufacture, provided that such magazines were in fact manufactured anywhere in the world prior to September 13, 1994. To wit, as recorded at 108 Stat. 1999 et seq., f110103(d) of the Act reads as follows: (d) IDENTIFICATION MARKINGS FOR LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.-Section 921(i) of title 18, United States Code, as amended by section 110102(d) of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``A large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured after the date of enactment of this sentence shall be identified by a serial number that clearly shows that the device was manufactured or imported after the effective date of this subsection, and such other identification as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe.''. [Emphasis added] Quite clearly, the above quoted subsection places no requirement for identification markings on rifle and pistol magazines holding greater than ten (10) rounds which were manufactured prior to the date of enactment of the Act. Note that the above-quoted passage uses the word ``manufactured''. It does not say ``manufactured or imported''. Hence, BATF may not ban the importation and subsequent sale to, possession by, or transfer between civilians of any such magazine under authority of the Act. Taken together, there is no doubt whatsoever that f110103(b) and (d) of the Act provide no authority whatsoever for BATF to prohibit the importation and subsequent sale to, transfer between, or possession by civilianseof rifle and/or pistol magazines which hold greater than ten (10) rounds of ammunition, provided that they were manufactured prior to September 13, 1994. Furthermore, BATF has no authority to require importers or Federal Firearms License holders to apply for permission to import or sell such magazines, nor does BATF have any authority to require civilians to apply for permission to possess or transfer such magazines. I am vehemently opposed to any such attempts by BATF to take any such action, or to interpret the proposed regulations in bulletin number 807, specifically proposed regulations 27 CFR 178.92 (c) (in toto), 27 CFR 178.40a(b)(1), and 27 CFR 178.119(a), to interdict such magazines or to punish anyone for the importation and subsequent possession by, sale to, or transfer between civilians of any such magazines. The proposed regulations use the term ``large capacity ammunition feeding device'', which, as demonstrated, does not apply to any pistol or rifle magazine manufactured anywhere in the world prior to September 13, 1994, as defined by the Act. Sincerely, Christopher G. BeHanna Without Prejudice , UCC 1-207 ----- End included text ----- Chris BeHanna Director?, New Jersey Self Defense Coalition NJ-RKBA List Maintainer behanna@syl.nj.nec.com kore wa NEC no iken de gozaimasen. Why is Lon Horiuchi still unpunished? PGP 2.6.1 public key available Only in America can a homeless veteran sleep in a cardboard box while a draft dodger sleeps in the White House.