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Belchertown gunmaker pleads guilty to federal firearm violations

groundscrapers said:
You forgot the pre-samples which really hurt the soul since they could be worth a ton had they been registered. If only we had a republican in office back then to veto this.
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Nice catch. Thanks.

The "passage" of the Hughes amendment was a travesty of process. A voice vote was taken; it was NOT obvious which side had won; and the chair immediately responded with something like "The Ayes have it" and we were breeched.

"Sneak attack" is a standard anti ploy. The AGs "guidance" on ARs and non-gun AR lowers issued without advance notice, hearings, etc. is one. Another is the NY SAFE act (banned ARs) passed under cloak of darkness with no advance notice, hearings or chance for constituents to make their feelings known to their reps. As former senator Jacques said regarding pro-gay legislation "I'll take a win on this any way I can get it". Then there is changing the succession law for filling the senate vacancy TWICE so it is always "Gov appoints if D in office; otherwise special election."

Crap like that is one reason why I do not want to see our side behave in a genteel manner and hand the SCOTUS appointment to the other side.
 
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Rob Boudrie said:
After the tragedy at the Westfield MG shoot, the state clarified that there is no exemption allowing the temporary non-handling of MGs by non-MA MG license holders like there is for handguns, shotguns and rifles.

Federal gun laws only override state laws in the case of FOPA86. In other cases federal gun laws provide exemptions to state law only if such is codified in state law. For example, and FFL does not exempt one from the AW ban in MA, but a MA dealer's license does.

Almost impossible, not impossible.

Congratulations. If someone offered me a prize for guessing which person on NES pulled it off, I would have won.
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I still don't see how thats practical for any number of the OEM manufacturers in state who make MG's to license all of their employees who may come into contact with a completed and form 2'ed machine gun.

and how does this deal with the fact that unless you are an instructor or collector you can't get a license?
 
groundscrapers said:
I still don't see how thats practical for any number of the OEM manufacturers in state who make MG's to license all of their employees who may come into contact with a completed and form 2'ed machine gun.

and how does this deal with the fact that unless you are an instructor or collector you can't get a license?
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MA law is not good at covering edge cases when it comes to guns or zoobows. Some of that stems from the firearms ignorance of those writing the laws.

This sort of thing is often handled by ignoring the law in certain cases. The "non licensee handling" was totally ignored until the kid got killed in Westfield.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
MA law is not good at covering edge cases when it comes to guns or zoobows. Some of that stems from the firearms ignorance of those writing the laws.

This sort of thing is often handled by ignoring the law in certain cases. The "non licensee handling" was totally ignored until the kid got killed in Westfield.
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you can say that again! A knee jerk clarification that only served to muddy the waters even further SMH. The one thing we can agree on is that the state loathes those in the business of making guns except at tax time.
 
groundscrapers said:
and to add to that since a MGL only issues to a Bonafied Collector or a firearm instructor certified by the municipal police training committee , what do you put on an application?
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I believe the EOPS issued an opinion that an 03 makes one a bonafide collector. That being said, departments are free to implement blanket policies of "No MG licenses as they ae just too dangerous". I know the courts have, to date, upheld such policies and I am not aware of any MG license denied on discretionary grounds being overturned by a MA court.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
This is also why many of the machine gun rental places are 07+SOTs holders. The only way a dealer can get MGs now is (a) Pre 86 $$$$ (think $20K+ for an M16); (b) Post 86 sample w/LEO demo request or (c) Manufacture a MG. SOTs do not require documented LE interest to manufacture a new one, but can only transfer the new inventory to other govt agencies of 07 SOTs (and then only if they have a demo request).

A "catch" is that if the 07 (with or without SOT) is not manufacturing solely for "research purposes", it must obtain ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulation) registration at $2250 per year (minimum, more if you do actual exporting beyond a certain level). The research exemption is a tricky one, so 07s should tread carefully if relying on this.

Many dealers fabricate their own non-existent "NES style exemption by declaration" to the ITAR requirement, and proceed as if 07+SOT is enough to make new MGs. They do so at their own risk and peril, despite the (to date) dearth of prosecutions of non-exporters failing to get at least Tier 1 ITAR registration. This is enabled by the BATFE not verifying ITAR registration as part of the process of processing an 07 application.

It does appear there is a temporary reduction of the fee to $500/year as part of the federal Covid response. I'm surprised the media has not yet used this for an attack on Trump.

www.federalregister.gov

International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Temporary Reduction in Certain Registration Fees

The Department of State is making a temporary change in the Tier I and Tier II and new registrant payment guidelines on the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) website at www.pmddtc.state.gov. These guidelines outline the registration fees charged to persons who engage in the United...
www.federalregister.gov www.federalregister.gov

Time for responses from 07s explaining why the law does not require them to have ITAR registration. :rolleyes:
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Wasn't there finally a clarification from the state department about who has to pay ITAR? I could swear that happened in the last couple years.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
This would be good news - anyone have info on this?
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Maybe I had an aneurysm but maybe somebody like @dcmdon posted about this in the past year or two?

I seem to remember in the distant past there was always fussing made about ITAR even though nobody ever got in trouble for it... and then at some point some kind of clarification was issued by the Department of State or some other government agency with regard to ITAR.

May be buried in here.... IIRC they issued some edicts earlier this year. I'll do some digging when im on a real computer....

www.jdsupra.com

ITAR Firearms Amendments - Six Important Points You Need to | JD Supra

On January 23, 2020, the State and Commerce Departments published their long-awaited final regulations on the transfer of certain firearms,...
www.jdsupra.com www.jdsupra.com
 
Rob Boudrie said:
This would be good news - anyone have info on this?
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So it appears with a cursory glance that this year the ITAR was removed but only for certain items. Not going to read that whole determination. Waaaaaay too long.

www.federalregister.gov

Control of Firearms, Guns, Ammunition and Related Articles the President Determines No Longer Warrant Control Under the United States Munitions List (USML)

On May 24, 2018, the Department of Commerce published a proposed rule in conjunction with a Department of State proposed rule to revise Categories I (firearms, close assault weapons and combat shotguns), II (guns and armaments), and III (ammunition/ordnance) of the USML and transfer items that no...
www.federalregister.gov www.federalregister.gov
 
djbradles said:
So it appears with a cursory glance that this year the ITAR was removed but only for certain items. Not going to read that whole determination. Waaaaaay too long.

www.federalregister.gov

Control of Firearms, Guns, Ammunition and Related Articles the President Determines No Longer Warrant Control Under the United States Munitions List (USML)

On May 24, 2018, the Department of Commerce published a proposed rule in conjunction with a Department of State proposed rule to revise Categories I (firearms, close assault weapons and combat shotguns), II (guns and armaments), and III (ammunition/ordnance) of the USML and transfer items that no...
www.federalregister.gov www.federalregister.gov
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The bigger question is "Do manufacturers of ITAR regulated items still need to register with ITAR if they are not exporting?"
 
Rob Boudrie said:
The bigger question is "Do manufacturers of ITAR regulated items still need to register with ITAR if they are not exporting?"
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It looks like the Gun hater AG from Washington, Bob Ferguson, still has it held up in court due to 3D printing concerns.
 
one-eyed Jack said:
The Hughes amendment was added to the FOPA without any discussion. Stopped the mfr/sale of new MGs to the general public. And Bush signed it. Maybe my spelling is off. Jack.
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Discussion? They didn't even count the votes on what appeared to be a close call - the chair simply rules "the ayes have it" (or similar words) and it was done.
 
drgrant said:
If you're engaged in manufacturing as an FFL you better be engraving your shit. He probably was an 01 or some shit. Nobody gets an 07 w/o SOT unless they're a moron.
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He was an 07. You can lookup all FFLs at Federal Firearms Listings | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives . Just download the complete file from back before they got nabbed and search for their name. 07.

I dont know a similar way to search for SOT holders so cannot tell if they had an SOT.


The article is crap. They also asserted they illegally sold glocks. Since glocks are on the list (most models), and you have to sell off list guns for it to be "illegal" (MGL 140 123) as opposed to a civil violation (940CMR16), I have to question the accuracy of the reporting. They had some "source" who told them all is bad and clearly knew jack sh*t.
 
CrackPot said:
He was an 07. You can lookup all FFLs at Federal Firearms Listings | Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives . Just download the complete file from back before they got nabbed and search for their name. 07.

I dont know a similar way to search for SOT holders so cannot tell if they had an SOT.


The article is crap. They also asserted they illegally sold glocks. Since glocks are on the list (most models), and you have to sell off list guns for it to be "illegal" (MGL 140 123) as opposed to a civil violation (940CMR16), I have to question the accuracy of the reporting. They had some "source" who told them all is bad and clearly knew jack sh*t.
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I saw that garbage too. I haven't been able to find the copy of the actual indictment yet...
 
drgrant said:
I saw that garbage too. I haven't been able to find the copy of the actual indictment yet...
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Would it not have to be two separate indictments? One federal for the NFA violations and another state for some of the other crap asserted in the article. Illegal glock sales would have to be state (if even real). NFA crap is federal. Falsifying records could be either though likely federal. I am not sure what records the state could prove (they have no bound book access).

Just crap reporting. They were spoon fed a story and did no work to validate anything they were told. I actually pointed out factual inaccuracies to the author (yes, my name is Alonso Quixano) and got no response.
 

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