By John Brown
Doing the Right Thing
The past year for the gun community has been one of turmoil and confusion. From history and experience we have seen that presidents don’t touch firearms control until after their first term. Welcome to this administration’s second term of turmoil.
The one major factor that we as a community are missing is solidarity. Many of the largest organizations are failing to understand that working together to fend off firearms legislation has now come to a critical point. Not only are all of us working tirelessly to fend off issues such as 41P, but we now have to turn our attention to the states to fend off firearms legislation that is being fueled at the state level. There is so much confusion at that level that enforcement agencies don’t even understand the legislation and, worse, don’t know how to enforce the new regulations. Confusion on issues such as whether a firearm is banned or not to figuring out how to enforce magazine ban alerts has many state enforcement personnel calling ATF for clarification. It is a chaotic mess particularly focused in as many as thirteen states in the Northeastern part of the country.
What does this mean? It means that there is opportunity for the industry to get involved and stave off further legislation with the real facts on each of these issues. Organizations such as the NRA, Fair Trade, The American Silencer Association, and certainly the NFATCA, are at the forefront of figuring out “How do we work together and place our time, resources and money towards a common goal while defending the Second Amendment.” In a time when the next generation is even questioning the value of the Constitution, it now more important than ever that we work alongside of each other to better position our resources to move things in a more sensible direction.
In late May of this year some of the top leaders in the industry were meeting privately to discuss critical issues and figure out how we improve the leadership in this country and support those individuals in the fall elections that believe in our Constitution and support the rights that we as U.S. citizens have elected our U.S. officials to uphold and support.
Our country is in jeopardy financially and from the very infrastructure that had hard working men and women build what we have. The thought of entitlements going far beyond things like social security and your retirement are becoming the new trend of the new generation. People all around you support “Change” as if it meant getting more stuff for free. As you know, or should know, nothing is free – someone has to pay at some point.
This private meeting had one objective in mind; build a better America through better leadership that will likely start in the U.S. Senate. Our problem has consistently erupted into a society that says, “I want the government to take more control.” In reality, that track record speaks for itself with one failed example after another in a long list failures. It just doesn’t work.
As we now know since Congress was unsuccessful at passing a new Assault Weapons Ban, this administration turned to the states and simply asked for help. The result has been catastrophic and will continue to run a slippery slope unless we put the right people in office to do the right thing, protect the Constitution. Managing that process and at the forefront of this battle are our elected leaders nationwide. Who elects those officials and the platforms they represent is up to you the voter.
There was a time when I said, “It can’t get any worse”, that is, until I saw a bumper sticker in early May that read, “I’m ready for Hillary.” The States and the Feds are mixing the Kool-aid again and it is time we vote together and make the kind of change that we as firearms owners want. There is an entire generation of Americans emerging that have been drinking this Kool-aid and need to know the truth. As mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, that is our responsibility to teach them what America is all about.
Do your part in building a better society with our young people so that they too can understand the meaning of debt and the change that will make it impossible for anyone else to pay for that debt except them. Teach them that strong seasoned leadership insures better results for success and the future of our economy and our country as a world leader.
Building a country on debt that exceeds your assets will certainly lead to failure. And you may ask yourselves, who will pick up the pieces?
In the meantime I will get off my pedestal and give you some news that has a more positive note.
ATF NFA Branch has hired 15 new examiners that are in training as we write this article. That additional workforce will have significant impact on our NFA transfer times so we can reduce the amount of time to get a transfer approved from ten months to less than 90 days. With more than 72,000 transfers in the backlog this month this will take some time to make a difference, however, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
On another note, 41P has now been delayed to January of 2015. I can only say thank Heaven and hope that the over 9,000 response to this bill will delay things even longer than next year. The pressure of the fall elections will certainly impact what happens here. From the over 1,000 members of the NFATCA we say thank you for taking the time and energy for making your voices heard.
As a last note you should all know that we will soon see new leadership at the NFA Branch which should have a major effect on processes within the Branch. We will keep you posted on who will fill this new position. In the meantime the entire industry takes it hat off to Ted Clutter, who tirelessly serves the NFA.
As mentioned earlier, the leaders of some of the major firearms organizations met and discussed a common strategy to defeat the multiple attempts at gutting the Constitution. At the forefront of that meeting were discussions on electing officials that support your rights as Americans. It is truly time to support those of us that are fighting for you and to get out and vote for the kind of leadership that will get us back on track with our Constitutional rights.
We simply ask for your support and your getting out and voting this fall for a firearms friendly leadership that helps us manage our future.
Thank you.
| This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V18N5 (October 2014) |
