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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   23094 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026

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Justice Department won’t enforce registration rules on silencers and certain guns after court ruling

The Trump administration announced the enforcement policy changes after a Texas judge in August ruled the permitting process was unconstitutional. The judge’s ruling was limited to the parties involved in that case, but the Justice Department said Friday it would no longer enforce the registration requirements more broadly.

Under the new guidance, ATF will no longer require registration unless the buyer lives in one of about 15 states that have state laws requiring that people go through the federal permitting process. The registration process will still apply for machine guns and what are considered “destructive devices” under federal law, the Justice Department said.

This is not a legislative change or even a change after a Supreme Court ruling, so the next administration could reverse it. With that said, the amount of erosion of the National Firearms Act in the last decade is beyond the wildest dreams of the most fervent pro-2nd amendment crowd from 20 years ago. There are states now banning AR15s or trying to ban handguns, but if a person doesn't live in one of those, they can buy a short-barreled rifle and suppressor with no background check or tax stamp.

I definitely think at the very least in 2 years when half of all new rifles are SBR, and gun stores are handing out $50 suppressors like candy, it may be hard to go back.

If we can get a real scotus ruling on "common use" then we may be only 50 million suppressors and sbrs away from winning them forever.

Now that is a gun-rights idea I hadn't thought of before: subsidize/promote silencers (or anything else) that are only legal in some jurisdictions, get the courts to recognize it as "common use", and enshrine it as s right for everyone forever.

Of course, that requires the courts to cooperate, which hasn't been a good option in the past.

Alito retires next term, with a Democratic Senate. Thomas won't live forever. The next President will likely be a Democrat. A leftist court won't pussyfoot around being anti-RKBA the way the current court pretends to be pro-RKBA, so it'll all be gone in one decision.

They will never, ever get them back. They didn't get 18-inch barrel restrictions back when they fucked up and lost it. They didn't get braces or bump-stocks back when those leaked through. They haven't gotten FRTs back. They won't get SBRs or suppressors back either. If they are smart, they'll recognize the fait accompli and just let it go. If they're not smart, my guess is you see another round of Red State defiance the way you did with the border, and likely worse if they double-down.

President AOC (or Newsom)'s ATF will have fully automatic weapons, not to mention incendiary grenades. If they say "Mr. and Mrs. Gunowner, turn them all in" and then kill a few members, or an entire compound, of some unpopular group to punctuate their point, they'll get most of it back, and the rest will end up buried until they rust to uselessness.

Even Texas and Florida are not going to put their own police in the way of the ATF.

Texas did put police in the way of the open border and Biden just... let them.

I think the federal government does not want more Ruby Ridge and Waco style debacles. It's a PR disaster when they burn down the home of defiant people*. Some gun control advocates like to use feds death-squadding or bombing people who don't comply with gun laws as a trump card. Something about fighter jets being used to enforce compliance in a way an AR15 can't stop. They act like it is a mic drop debate ender to point out the feds have armored vehicles and fighter jets. But the fantasy of feds burning and bombing their political opponents is just not going to happen in the modern era. A century ago a little bit of that could happen but the feds are just softer now. Photos of federal agents standing over charred ruins mixed with dead children will prevent this†. Not that they have any moral issues with murdering their fellow Americans, but the terrible PR would harm their supporters in elections and they can't stand that.

*Branch Davidians actually burned down their own compound. But it looked like the feds did it and FBI agents perjured themselves denying that they used incendiary tear gas canisters.

† Like all those photos from Waco.

How’s Malinowski’s widow’s lawsuit going?

If.

Is there any precedent for SWAT raids on generally-law-abiding gun owners? If there isn't, what are the signs that the next administration will break new ground?

Ken Ballew would be 1971.

Also John Lawmaster 1991, on a tip that he had an illegally-converted machine gun. Fortunately Lawmaster wasn't home. ATF trashed the place, left the guns unsecured, and left a note "Nothing found- ATF". Probably the note is what gives the story staying power.

There's the 1994 Pennsylvania Lamplugh raid where ATF agents are alleged to have stomped a kitten to death.

Is there any precedent for SWAT raids on generally-law-abiding gun owners?

The Biden raids of "kitchen-table" gun dealers -- note that the Trump Administration is still defending his "engaged in the business rule".

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