Why Is The ATF Enforcing A Rule That Doesn’t Exist?

By Cam Edwards

On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. Robert Verbruggen of National Review joins me to talk about the bizarre fact that the ATF and DOJ are attempting to enforce a firearms regulation that does not exist.

A guy named Joseph Roh illegally manufactured and sold AR-15s and other guns through a slapstick scheme to avoid the law. A judge issued a tentative order against Roh — but in the process held that lower receivers are not firearms under current regulations, thus acquitting Roh of some of the charges. The government decided to let Roh off with a slap on the wrist rather than pursue the matter further, to prevent the order, as CNN puts it, from “becoming permanent, drawing publicity, and creating case law that could hamper ATF enforcement efforts.” It ended up on CNN’s website regardless, and anyone prosecuted for selling AR-15 lowers going forward will be tempted to try Roh’s defense.

As Verbruggen told me, there’s no easy fix for the government here. “Fixing” the regulation could throw previous convictions and current cases into doubt, but leaving the regulation as is will be problematic for future cases, …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms