The Information that is contained in
this email FILLS ME WITH RAGE, RIGHTEOUS ANGER, AT THE BATF SCUMBAGS.
The BATF is still ruining lives and
killing people just like they did at WACO & RUBY RIDGE.
I wish the bastards would come for me.
When I was done with them it would be national news on every TV
network.
It looks like war is coming. The
Republicans are shit. They are almost identical to the Democrats.
What have they really done for
Conservatives about gun rights, stopping abortion, stopping illegal
immigration and stopping legal immigration, stopping the
homosexual rights movement, stopping the flood of porn or stopping the
massive federal spending? - Bob Weinert, 1301 Penrod Ct. Lansing
Michigan. 517-393-3333, I want them to know where to come get me.
I have done nothing wrong, but thats
OK, you Federal BATF Agents can just make something up. Maybe you can
call me a terrorist for writing this letter. Yeah, thats a good idea,
lets charge him under the PATRIOT ACT for terrorism.
COME GET ME YOU SOB's!
Is
this anyway for a Christian Patriot to talk? Yes says George Washington
and Patrick Henry and the American Founding Fathers who would be
disgusted by what America has become today!
+++
ALERT FROM JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION
OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP
September 23, 2005
JPFO ALERT: THE END OF THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY?
A storm is
brewing. It has the potential to utterly destroy the Republican Party.
<>
For years, under both Democrat and Republican
administrations, American citizens -- cornerstones of their communities
-- have been falsely charged and railroaded into
prisons. Their lives have been ruined. Their families have
been shattered. It has all been because of accusations and
sham trials that belong in Communist China, not the United
States of America.
<>
We're talking about the decades of abuses
committed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
(ATF). We're talking about the
_continuing_ abuses that are
ruining innocent gun owners and gun makers today. Worse, we're
now also talking about political cover-up and complicity.
A HISTORY OF ABUSE
For evidence of the abuses, see:
http://www.jpfo.org/alert20050103.htm
http://www.jpfo.org/savagebatfe.htm
http://www.jpfo.org/savage2.htm
<>
People are being
convicted on utterly meaningless testimony from "expert" witnesses who
don't know what they're talking about and who work for an agency that uses arbitrary testing methods designed to yield
whatever results bureaucrats
and politicians want.
<>
Do the Republicans
know about this? Yes. Of course they do. They've known since at least
1982, when Congress recommended
curbing the ATF's powers. Instead of controlling the ATF, administration
after administration, of
both parties, has handed the ATF more money and more power.
NEW EVIDENCE OF A COVER-UP
<>
But it's worse. Not
only does the current administration know about these unjust
persecutions, these outrageous, trumped-up charges, they're now blatantly aiding and abetting the very agency that so
horribly abuses American gun owners.
Here's what we're discovering:
<>
Earlier this year, firearm manufacturer Len
Savage and JPFO worked together to reveal that ATF Firearms Technology Branch
(FTB) actually has NO standards for determining what constitutes
an "illegal machine gun"!
<>
One agent might
decide that a semi-automatic rifle is an "illegal machine gun" if it
can be made to fire full-auto after 15 minutes of casual tinkering. Another ATF agent might say another semi-automatic rifle
is an "illegal machine
gun" if a gunsmith with a machine shop can make it fire full-auto after eight hours of
expert modification.
<>
But each "expert"
can then give testimony that puts the innocent owner of a
semi-automatic rifle in prison.
<>
Sometimes, they do no real testing or
examination of firearms at all. Don't believe it? Watch the video of
the "testing" of John Glover's FAL,
and see for yourself:
http://www.jpfo.org/batfevideo.htm
<>
You'll see an ATF "expert" claim that a semi-automatic rifle is an "illegal
machine gun" because it had a broken part and would
occasionally fire two shots on one trigger pull. No one
from the ATF ever even disassembled the gun to look for the cause of
the malfunction before charging Glover with a federal felony!
<>
When the Glover
footage became public, the prosecutor ordered the charges against
Glover dropped. Later, the head of the ATF himself ordered Mr. Glover's guns returned to him. (If you know someone being
attacked by the ATF, make sure
they have a copy of the footage to use!)
GUN OWNERS ATTEMPT TO HOLD THE ATF'S
FEET TO THE FIRE
<>
Recently, many concerned gun owners have
contacted their congressional representatives requesting the FTB's firearms-testing
procedure manual. The response has been – shockingly,
but not surprisingly -- that "no such manual exists." The
ATF is now being forced to admit that for decades
it's been "making it up as it goes along" -- at the expense of
American gun owners.
BUT ... Instead of defending gun
owners in this simple matter of common sense and
justice, powerful Republicans are helping the
ATF cover up!
<>
The FTB has "refused" to release its manual to
theCongressional Research Service. Note: It's not admitting the
truth -- that there is no manual, that there are no standards.
It's just saying it won't release it. And the Department
of Justice (under which the ATF now operates) is backing up
its underlings.
<>
Congressman James
Sensenbrenner - Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary - is
scrambling to give the FTB time so that it can hurriedly write some sort of fake manual - anything! - to show the
public when knowledge of this
travesty becomes widespread.
<>
But by doing so, the FTB will be facing
unintended consequences: If the standards for testing firearms have only
"now" been written, then literally thousands of "previous"
gun owner convictions will become suspect, and may
well be overturned. The Department of Justice fears
(accurately) that there will be a wave of retrials or even complete
exonerations for imprisoned gun owners when the public
discovers this fetid coverup.
<>
But the current
VIPs of the Republican Party and the Bush administration are actually
trying to "prevent you and me
<>
from learning what their agents are doing
to us."
<>
Only one congressman, Phil Gingrey of Georgia,
stands alone in opposition to the ATF's domestic terrorism. He has written a bill to force the ATF to video-record
all firearms tests. He made the
first requests for the non-existent
manual. Yes, Gingrey is a Republican, and a
<>
courageous one. But his attempts to get justice
have been stymied at every turn by Republican James Sensenbrenner and the Republican Department of Justice.
We're getting calls from outraged,
patriotic gun owners.
<>
We're reading angry
rumblings on second-amendment blogs and message boards. They're all
saying the same thing: "If more gun owners begin to grasp the full depth of their betrayal, the Republican Party will not survive
the fallout."
Republican betrayal of gun owners is
unfortunately not new.
<>
The Brady law
passed only because a powerful Republican (Bob Dole) enabled it.
Republicans who claimed to oppose various Clinton-era gun laws have
vigorously supported enforcement
of those same laws through Project Safe Neighborhoods. It has been a
"Republican" administration, not a Democrat one that has appointed hundreds of special prosecutors just to handle "gun
crimes" (which are often
completely non-violent and technical
"crimes").
<>
Until now, many gun owners have either been
oblivious to the depth of the Republican betrayal or they've held their
noses and supported Republicans
because they believed the Democrats
to be worse.
<>
Many Democrats are open and frank in their
hatred of guns and gun owners. But for years the Republicans have looked us in
the eye, smiled, shaken our hands, asked for our support --
then stabbed us in the back.
<>
If this were a just
world with an impartial media, this brewing scandal of
Republican-supported abuse and Republican coverup would have the potential to make Whitewater or Iran Contra look trivial
in comparison.
<>
Because the media
doesn't care about gun owners, and because gun owners themselves are so
often willfully blind to
Republican betrayal, we don't know that this scandal "will" be the end of the Republican
Party.
<>
We only know an
increasing number of concerned, patriotic gun owners are saying that it
"should" be.
- The Liberty Crew
For more background information and
references, see:
http://www.jpfo.org/batfearticles.htm
Jews For The Preservation of Firearms
Ownership, Inc.
P.O. Box 270143
Hartford, WI 53027
Phone (262) 673-9745
Fax (262) 673-9746
http://www.jpfo.org/alert20050103.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 3, 2005
VITAL WARNING TO ALL OWNERS OF
SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARMS
If you value your firearms, your
safety, and your financial security, you should read every word of the
following article - then pass the information along to other gun
owners. Your personal future and your family's well-being could depend
on it.
- The Liberty Crew
-----
THE BATFE GETS CAUGHT WITH ITS HAND IN
THE COOKIE JAR
SEE THE FOOTAGE YOUR GOVERNMENT NEVER
INTENDED YOU TO SEE
For years, you've heard horror stories
about the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE).
You've heard they're more interested in framing the innocent than in
catching real criminals. You've heard they'll ruin lives for the sake
of their own prestige and funding. You've heard that BATFE agents are
callous and careless - and that the bureau supports a culture of cruel
ineptitude.
Well, you don't have to rely on rumor
or third-hand information any more. Now, you can SEE FOR YOURSELF.
For the first time, footage exists
that shows exactly how the BATFE treats an ordinary, average gun owner
once it decides to "get" him. And JPFO is making that footage available
to the public. You can view that footage and show it to other gun
owners who may be in denial about how desperately dangerous federal
gun-law enforcement really is.
AN AMERICAN HERO SAVES AN INNOCENT MAN
The background story behind this
footage is in JPFO's January 2005 _Shotgun News_ column (online at
http://www.jpfo.org/cs54.htm). In short, on the word of one informant
with a grudge, the BATFE confiscated all the firearms from an ordinary
competition shooter named John Glover and set about trying to prove
that one of those firearms was a machine gun illegally manufactured by
Glover. Their aim: To send Glover to prison for years, and to ruin him
financially - for no reason at all!
Fortunately Mr. Glover was able to get
the assistance of a good lawyer and one heroic American, a man named
Len Savage. Savage manufactures semiautomatic versions of well-known
NFA weapons (like the limited-edition Bren he donated as a JPFO
fundraiser, which you can see on our site
(http://www.jpfo.org/brengun.htm). He is one of the only firearms
makers who remains willing to stand up to the BATFE when they're wrong
even though several of its agents have threatened to destroy him.
What you will see in this footage will
shock you, even if you think you know all there is to know about BATFE
schemes.
First, you will see BATFE "expert"
Michael Cooney - a man whose investigations and testimony might
possibly have put dozens, if not hundreds, of gun owners behind bars -
test firing Glover's supposed "machine gun."
Then you you will see Len Savage
calmly do what any competent investigator would have done in the first
place - disassemble the firearm and reveal that the "machine gun" was
simply an ordinary semiautomatic rifle, assembled from aging parts,
that would occasionally - and dangerously - malfunction.
You will see that the BATFE makes no
attempt at any real investigation. Their "experts" have no firearms
manufacturing experience, no engineering degrees, no rigorous protocols
to follow. They have no forensic labs, no scientific method, no desire
to discover the truth. You'll see that its "experts" not only know very
little about firearms but don't even know the laws they're supposedly
enforcing. You will see them caught in the act (just like a kid with
his hand in the cookie jar) of doing the very things they've gotten
away with all these years.
Had Len Savage not disassembled that
firearm, the BATFE would almost certainly never have done so. The
agency was prepared to put John Glover in prison - to make him a felon
forever -- because he owned a broken gun!
SADLY, THEY'RE STILL GETTING AWAY WITH
IT
We'd like to tell you that this story
has a happy ending. And in part, it does. When prosecutors saw this
stunning footage, they dropped the charges against Mr. Glover in
disgust.
However, by that time, Glover had
already had to mortgage his house to pay his bail and $30,000 in legal
fees. And that's with a lawyer who worked for half his normal hourly
rate. Today, Glover barely answers his phone, can't sleep, and lives in
terror that someone will kick his door down in the middle of the night,
or arrive to drag him off to prison for some other "crime" he didn't
commit. And the BATFE still refuses to return any of his firearms.
Perhaps federal agents will leave Mr.
Glover alone in the future. Who knows? But you should be aware that,
among all the BATFE's old methods, there's a new tactic afoot. We call
it an Economic Waco.
After several public catastrophes in
the 1990s (the Randy Weaver case and Waco among them), the BATFE is now
less likely to kick down your door, shoot you in your bed, or stomp
your kitten to death. Today, they can be more polite - but more
insideous. With new laws and technology giving federal agents almost
unlimited access to our financial records, they can pick easy targets
(like the lower middle- class John Glover and like most of us). Once
they've targeted you, they relentlessly pursue you, forcing you to
spend all your resources to defend yourselves against them.
The new approach uses the velvet glove
of legal proceedings. But the iron fist of the BATFE police state
mentality is just as devastating.
One informant with a grudge, one
sloppy agent just "doing his job," and one bureaucratic boss is all it
takes to ruin your life. And on the footage we've obtained, you'll see
how casually they do it.
This is why we must work to get the
word - and the undeniable, visual, evidence - to every gun owner. We
have the evidence we've been looking for. Each of us must show it to
our friends, to decision-makers, lawyers, prosecutors, judges,
law-makers. We must show the world what the BATFE really is - and what
it really does to people just like us.
JPFO MEMBERS MADE THIS POSSIBLE
NOW, WHAT WILL THE REST OF THE WORLD
DO?
Packaging this footage (provided to us
by Len Savage) was a secret project, funded by JPFO membership and
everyday contributions. We could not openly raise funds to produce the
DVDs and VHS tapes for you, and we could not do any advance publicity
because that would have tipped our hand. Advance notice might have
given the BATFE time to prepare some sort of coverup or counter
propaganda.
By revealing the footage to the world
without notice, we've caught the entire BATFE in the same embarrassing
situation Agent Cooney found himself in by the end of the tape.
If you are a JPFO member or
contributor, you can be proud. Getting this footage to the world is
YOUR accomplishment. If you're not a JPFO member but you know one,
please give that person your thanks.
This is dangerous material. Not
dangerous to you. On the contrary, it could save your life. But
dangerous to Len Savage, who must face BATFE bureaucrats and submit to
their paperwork and approvals constantly. And dangerous to JPFO. We can
now expect three kinds of opponents to attack with renewed fury: police
staters, gun haters, and Jew haters.
When you use this footage, you'll also
be able to tell who the real friends and enemies of your gun ownership
are. Show it to a friend or to one of the "lesser of two evils"
politicians you might have had faith in over the years. If that person
in turn uses it to wake others up or curb BATFE powers, you'll know
he's not only your friend but a real friend to freedom. If you show it
to a friend (or a lawmaker) and get a "ho hum" or a "Gee, that's awful,
but it's not my problem" reaction - and you'll know that person isn't
going to stand for your rights, now or ever.
This footage is a litmus test. It's
something we never had before and must use now.
Len Savage, who has already done so
much, has persuaded his congressman, Phil Gingrey, to introduce
legislation in the upcoming U.S. Congress to require the BATFE to tape
all such test firings and examinations of firearms in the future.
Another American hero, Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America (GOA --
http://www.gunowners.org/), is supporting this effort.
Although JPFO takes no position on any
legislation, as Savage points out such taping has little cost and many
benefits. It could put a stop to wasteful prosecutions and force the
BATFE to be more professional. It could save gun owners' lives and
families.
But that's in the future. For now,
_this_ is the only footage we have. And it's dynamite, if not nuclear.
We challenge all firearms
decision-makers, including manufacturers and other gun-rights groups,
to join JPFO, Len Savage, and GOA in using this footage to help rein in
the powerful, abusive, unamerican BATFE.
ORDER ON VHS OR DVD
You can purchase a copy of the footage
for $17.76, postage paid, from JPFO
(http://www.jpfo.org/batfevideo.htm).
With your order you'll also receive,
absolutely FREE, a copy of Gran'pa Jack #8 "Is America Becoming a
Police State?" (a $3.00 value) and your own personal copies of the
BATFE confiscation report and Len Savage's expert witness report on the
Glover case.
If you have a DVD player available, we
strongly recommend that medium. The DVDs have a menu, designed with the
assistance of GOA's Larry Pratt, that lets you go right to the most
crucial portions of the test and disassembly of the firearm without
having to wade through raw footage.
But whichever medium you choose,
please order, watch, and _use_ this tape. Your future - and the future
of justice for gun owners -- could depend on it.
-
The Liberty Crew
<>
http://www.jpfo.org/savagebatfe.htm
Len Savage
Evidence File
Len Savage is the
owner of Historic Arms LLC, which makes semi-automatic replicas of
famous firearms like the Bren he donated to JPFO as a fundraiser . He is also the man who provided JPFO with the explosive
footage for "BATFE Fails the Test," which shows
a BATFE agent trying to prove an ordinary, legal, semi-automatic rifle
is a "illegal machine gun." .
On January 3,
JPFO announced the existence of this one-of-a-kind footage to the
world. On January 5, Sterling Nixon sent Len a letter decreeing that
Len's latest creation was an "unlicensed machine gun." The BATFE
confiscated the firearm and effectively prevented Len from completing
and delivering the rest of a $50,000 order.
Has the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms decided to conduct a personal vendetta
against one courageous American gun maker -- simply because he
confirmed their notorious ineptitude?
January 24,
2005
HAS THE
BATFE DECLARED WAR
AGAINST AN AMERICAN GUN MAKER?
Has the Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms decided to conduct a personal vendetta
against one courageous American gun maker -- simply because he
confirmed their notorious ineptitude? Has the agency decided to commit
yet another "Economic Waco" by trying to put yet another gun maker or
gun dealer out of business?
See the
documentation and decide for yourself. You'll
find it here on JPFO's web site. But we believe the evidence is clear.
Len Savage is the
owner of Historic Arms LLC, which makes semi-automatic replicas of
famous firearms like the Bren he donated
to JPFO as a fundraiser. He is also one of
the few gun makers with enough gumption to confront the BATFE when he
knows it's wrong.
Len provided JPFO
with the explosive footage for "BATFE Fails
the Test," which shows a BATFE agent trying
to prove an ordinary, legal, semi-automatic rifle is a "illegal machine
gun." Len is the cowboy-hatted man you'll see in the film, calmly,
expertly taking the rifle -- and the BATFE's claims -- apart.
On January 3,
JPFO announced the existence of this one-of- a-kind footage to the
world. On January 5, Sterling Nixon sent Len a letter decreeing that
Len's latest creation was an "unlicensed machine gun." The BATFE
confiscated the firearm and prevented Len from delivering a $50,000
order.
According to Len,
a BATFE bureaucrat had already told him privately that the agency could
-- and would -- ruin him by declaring every, single firearm he ever
made to be a machine gun.
Again, the
evidence backs up Len's claim. Two years ago, the BATFE declared that
Historic Arms rifles with nearly the identical characteristics of
today's "illegal machine gun" were legal, semi-automatic rifles. Those
BATFE declarations, along with the latest one and Len's response, are
among the documents posted in our Savage Evidence File.
There aren't many
men today who would defy the very government agency that determines
whether or not they're "allowed" to make a living. Len is one of the
few -- and we should not, and must not, let one of this country's
remaining voices of courage and conviction within the gun-
manufacturing trade be silenced.
IT GETS
EVEN WORSE
Len has persuaded
his congressman, Phil Gingrey, to sponsor legislation requiring that
every BATFE weapon test be videotaped from now on. The video footage
shown in the JPFO documentary saved a man named John Glover from
complete ruination by the BATFE.
But information
we've received indicates that the BATFE may already be planning to
circumvent any such legislation.
In other words,
the tape Len Savage gave to JPFO may be the last of its kind. Other
photographic evidence of BATFE ineptitude may be hidden for years
behind a wall of bureaucratic arrogance. Yes, some of these tapes might
come out at trials. In other cases, persistent researchers with years
to spend prying documents out of the government via the Freedom of
Information Act may eventually be able to unearth other tapes, long
after the BATFE has done its damage. But it's likely that JPFO's
footage clearly showing the BATFE's destructive folly will be the only
documentary of its kind for many years to come.
SO WHAT
DO WE DO ABOUT BATFE ABUSES?
Millions of gun
owners have voted for the "lesser of two evils" year after year -- and
this is the result. An agency that has been allowed to run amok for
decades is still wreaking its havoc four years into a "gun-friendly"
Republican administration. This same "gun-friendly" administration also
developed a program, Project Safe Neighborhoods, intended to put 700
state and federal prosecutors to work -- solely focused on "gun
crimes."
The careers of
these prosecutors prosper when the BATFE targets innocents like John
Glover. These anti-gun men and women, placed in power by a Republican
administration, will benefit if the BATFE eventually decides
to try to put Len Savage in prison. They benefit if the BATFE
comes after YOU.
So what do we do
about it? STOP putting our energies into supporting evil (even "lesser
evil") and focus on alerting every American gun owner we can find,
every community decision-maker, every judge, every defense attorney to
the evil that's going on within the BATFE.
Otherwise, you
can look in the mirror and say, "Welcome to the police state." Because
the BATFE's tactics are police- state tactics. Hiding evidence of
wrongdoing is a police- state tactic. And destroying gun owners is a
police-state tactic -- perhaps the ultimate tactic before the police
state can seize full power.
Get a VHS or
(better) a DVD copy of "The BATFE Fails the Test." Show it at your gun
club. Show it in school classes on history or law. Sit your attorney
down with it. Send copies to anyone who has the power to put a stop to
the BATFE's rampaging evil (be aware, however, that in DC all
mail - including DVDs and CDs - is irradiated to the point of
uselessness. Phone, fax and email are the only ways to contact your
"representatives").
The momentum is
with us now. There's a vast, rumbling underground movement building.
It's growing and getting ready to rise up in righteous fury against the
BATFE. This movement reaches from the firearms factories of Europe and
Asia (whose exports to the U.S. may be confiscated and declared
arbitrarily illegal) to the gun shops of America - - all the way up to
the halls of Congress.
But the people
who have the legal power to stop the BATFE won't stop it unless We the
People rouse ourselves and insist that we will not put up with it
any more.
Buy the
documentary. Use the menu on the DVD to give your audience a
five-minute view of the worst of the BATFE's ineptitude. Get mad. Get
others as angry as you are. Then join the roar to STOP THE BATFE.
Tapes or DVDs are
just $17.76 postpaid from JPFO.
Each one comes with a the BATFE's confiscation report in the Glover
case, Len Savage's expert-witness summary, and a copy of Gran'pa Jack
#8 "Is America Becoming a Police State?"
- The Liberty
Crew
----
Contact information:
JOHN GLOVER'S ATTORNEY
H.M.Whitesides,Jr.
Whitesides & Walker,LLP
212 S.Tryon St.
Suite 980
Charlotte,N.C. 28012
704-376-6455
hmwhitesides@whitesideswalker.com
LEN SAVAGE
Historic Arms L.L.C.
1486 cherry Rd.
Franklin, GA 30217
(706) 675-0287
http://www.jpfo.org/savage2.htm
Why
the ATF’s Firearm Testing Procedures
are Scientifically Invalid
by Len Savage
Owner, Historical Arms LLC
With the
amount of documentation now publicly available it has become obvious
that there is a serious problem within the Firearms Technology Branch
(FTB) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
The
technicians who work at FTB testify before the courts as “experts” on
the technology of firearms. They may or may not have any real-world or
industry experience. It is a fact that no technician at FTB has ever
held a federal firearms license or ever designed a firearm.
Unfortunately the problem runs even deeper than that. The recent public
exposure of an incompetent FTB technician, Michael J. Cooney (U.S.
v. Glover), which resulted in the dismissal with prejudice of a
federal prosecution of an innocent citizen, raises troubling questions
about the legal validity of past prosecutions in which Mr. Cooney
testified, and possibly those of other FTB technicians.
Congress has
given the ATF the task of “classifying” firearms - for instance,
determining whether a firearm is a common, semi-automatic that fires
one shot with each trigger pull or whether it is a machine gun,
designed to fire multiple rounds on one trigger pull (full auto).
Numerous gun owners and gun makers have been bankrupted or imprisoned
because the ATF stated that their firearms were “illegal machine guns”
rather than semi-autos. If the ATF's classifications were accurate,
then this would just be a matter for lawyers and lawmakers. But there
is ample evidence – and not only in the case of Mr. Cooney -- to
indicate that the ATF's classifications are arbitrary and inaccurate.
The ATF seemingly does not employ consistent testing criteria and
standards.
The core
issue is the methodology (or lack of) in making firearm
classifications. The ATF does not employ the time-honored and
well-honed methods of scientific inquiry.
|
Common Mistakes in
Applying the Scientific Method:
Most high school and
college science text books warn of common mistakes when applying the
scientific method. I will quote four that apply to FTB.
* “When testing a
hypothesis (educated guess), the scientist or technician may have a
preference for one outcome or another, and it is important that this
preference not bias the results or their interpretation.”
* “The most fundamental
error is to mistake the hypothesis for an explanation of a phenomenon,
without performing tests. Sometimes “common sense” and “logic” tempt us
into believing that no test is needed.” (Remember the SGMB
semi-auto and the safety selector?)
* “Sometimes, however,
a scientist or technician may have a strong belief that the hypothesis
is true (or false), or feels internal or external pressure to get a
specific result. In that case there may be a psychological tendency to
find something wrong.” (For an example of this view an actual ATF
test-firing on the DVD “BATFE
Fails the Test,” available from www.jpfo.org. Without any
disassembly or detailed examination, an FTB “expert” insisted a
semi-automatic rifle was a “machine gun” solely because it would
occasionally fire more than one round on a single trigger pull; a few
minutes examination of the gun's components showed that the gun's aging
parts were merely malfunctioning.)
* “Another common
mistake is to ignore or rule out data that does not support the
hypothesis”. (Example: In testing of the BM-3000 upper, FTB stated in
documents that its jury-rigged device fell apart in half of the tests.
When evaluating the results, however, the FTB simply chose to ignore
that half of the tests. In another case, when the ATF's duct-taped and
plastic cable-tied Inter Ordnance PPSH parts blew apart on the second
round fired, the FTB chose to completely ignore the fact that the
ATF-created device exploded. It fired twice, therefore Inter Ordnance
was responsible for a manufacturing and selling an “illegal machine
gun.”
|
|
The
Scientific Method
Science is
distinguished from other forms of inquiry by its requirement of
systematic experimentation. The scientific method is designed to reduce
the influence of individual, social, or institutional bias on
experimental findings.
In short the
scientific method is a process in which scientists or technicians try
to build an accurate (that is reliable, consistent, repeatable, and
NON-arbitrary) representation of the world or things in it. It has four
steps that must be followed:
1.
Observe and
describe a phenomenon (example: A
researcher thoroughly examines an FN-FAL, which is suspected of being a
machine gun).
2.
Formulate a
hypothesis (educated guess) to explain the phenomenon (example: The
presence of a full-auto safety selector installed in the lower receiver
of a FN-FAL-type firearm could cause the firearm to fire fully
automatic, and thus meet the statutory definition of a machine gun).
3.
Use the
hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomenon (example:
The lower receiver had to be modified or redesigned to make the firearm
function in full-auto mode).
4.
Perform
experimental tests of the predictions that can be replicated by other
independent experimenters using written testing protocols and uniform
evaluation standards (example:
Test fire the suspected FN-FAL on the range using standardized
procedures and various types of ammunition, keeping careful notes and
video-recording the testing process).
The ATF Method
While FTB
does use some of the above steps, tech branch “experts” tend pick and
choose indiscriminately among the four steps and also to perform the
steps in a faulty manner. For instance, they may well observe and
describe, but if they have no real world or industry experience, do
they know what they are looking at or looking for?
Example: I submitted an SGMB semi-auto rifle to
FTB for classification. They observed that if they removed the safety
selector, the sear did not disconnect with every pull of the trigger.
(A safety selector, usually called a "safety," is used to render the
firearm in a condition to fire if the trigger is pulled, or conversely
to prevent it from firing. The sear is the component that releases the
hammer.) Upon cursory examination, this configuration appeared to
enable the firearm to fire multiple times on one trigger pull, and
therefore the ATF declared it a “machine gun” -- without ever test
firing it.
They failed,
however, to observe that the firearm had a second disconnector that
operated independently of the trigger pull. (A disconnector is a
component that prevents full-auto function; it is a part that
distinguishes a semi-auto from a machine gun.) Operating off of the
bolt carrier movement, this second disconnector prevented full-auto
fire. Due solely to the ATF's own lack of firearms knowledge and
incomplete testing methods, they wrongly classified this SGMB as a
machine gun - even though in real-world practice it was incapable
of and not designed for full-auto fire.
Letter to Len Savage (pdf format)
Response by Len
Savage (pdf format)
More BATFE Letters
(pdf format)
The lack of
consistent testing standards and criteria by FTB is well documented.
When a firearm is submitted to FTB for classification firearms makers
can receive no clear answer to their questions as to what tests may or
may not be performed. The ATF simply has no standard test procedures.
For instance,
the FTB often attempts to demonstrate that a semi-automatic version of
a firearm could be “readily restorable” into a machine gun.(1) If the gun is
“readily restorable” it may be illegal to possess or manufacture
without special licensing.
To prove how
“readily restorable” a firearm is, one of the agency's “experts” may do
something as quick and simple as perform a test fit of full-auto
components into the semi-automatic firearms – about 15 minutes work. An
“expert” in another case may give a similar firearm to a machinist and
allow him eight hours in a modern machine shop and try to make the
firearm into a machine gun. Yet each expert may testify in court that
he performed reliable tests to determine that a semi-automatic weapon
was “readily restorable” -- that is, quickly and easily convertible
into a possibly illegal weapon.
No owner or
manufacture has any idea which standard will be applied to his own
firearm. Yet freedom and/or economic survival may hang on the ATF's
decision.
Plastic cable
ties, duct tape, and shoelaces
While FTB
criteria for testing and classifying firearms can flip-flop at will,
that is only one aspect of the ATF's violation of accepted scientific
method. At times, ATF methodology becomes downright bizarre.
For instance,
in attempting to “prove” that a semi-automatic firearm is, or can
easily be made, full-auto, ATF “experts” have been known to attach a
variety of devices to the gun being tested. They commonly, for
instance, fasten new parts to the firearm or remove parts from the
firearm, then hold the resulting device together with duct tape,
plastic cable ties, or small metal bars before test firing it. They use
these aids because otherwise the components of the jury-rigged test
weapon will not hold together on their own. Such a device would be
useless in the real world, yet the ATF freely uses these Rube
Goldberg contraptions to “prove” that a weapon is illegal, and that the
original maker or owner of the firearm is committing a federal crime!
These strange
ATF-created lab contraptions can also be so dangerous that the testers
hide behind barriers to protect themselves against exploding firearms.
Yet ATF agents may still tell a jury that such a weapon is a usable
“machine gun.”
On September
30, 2004, the ATF sent a letter to a Mr. Brian Blakely stating that if
a person tied an ordinary household item (in this case, a shoestring)
to the trigger of a firearm in order to induce that firearm to shoot
multiple rounds on one trigger pull, then that household item was -- in
and of itself -- a machine gun. (According to law and BATFE
interpretation, any components designed to induce a weapon to fire in
full-auto mode are themselves machine guns, even if they are inert and
incapable of firing anything when standing alone). But if that is true,
then are not the duct tape, plastic cable ties, and small metal bars
also machine guns? Are these ATF-applied devices not intended to
convert otherwise ordinary semi-automatic firearms into machine guns?
And is not the ATF - rather than the gun maker or owner -- the culprit
in that case?
(click for larger photo)
We have seen
that the ATF uses arbitrary testing criteria and faulty methods. But
worse, strange techniques like the above violate yet another aspect of
the scientific method: The methods are not chosen to discover the
facts. They are designed to produce whatever results fit the ATF's
hypothesis - regardless of the facts.
Consider the
example of aftermarket upper receivers for the M-11/M-10. This family
of firearm is normally magazine-fed via a pistol grip in its lower
receiver. If the firearm is full-auto, the lower receiver is considered
a machine gun, while the standard upper receiver is not a machine gun.
The industry
has produced aftermarket upper receivers that can also be used to feed
rounds into the chamber of the M-11 or M-10. Some of these are
magazine-fed. Some are belt-fed.
The FTB has
decided – without testing – that the magazine-fed upper receivers are
not machine guns. For instance, Andrew Smith's and Capt. Monty
Mendonhall's "Soumi" upper, or my own Historic Arms "Calico mag” upper
are not classified by the ATF as machine guns.
On the other
hand, the FTB has decreed that the belt-fed upper receivers, like
Socomm’s M-11/RPD and my own Historic Arms BM-3000 upper, are machine
guns, in and of themselves.
Why? you
might ask. While these components may look different, they are all
replacement upper receivers for the M-11/M-10. They are all open- bolt
in operation, and all of them incorporate a device that feeds
ammunition directly into the upper receiver.
The most
astonishing thing is that RPD-style uppers were “proven” to be machine
guns after being subjected to a test in which they were clamped down in
a shooting vice with a chain, and copious plastic cable-ties and a
small metal bar were added to capture the recoil spring system, and
pull back the cocking handle and release. The firearm did fire,
although it was unsafe, uncontrollable, and impractical (unless you can
tote a vise and shooting table around in your trench coat).
Now, it would
actually be far easier to make a magazine-fed upper to fire as a
“machine gun” using this strange and dangerous method of testing. DO
NOT EVER TRY THIS, it is unsafe, and could kill you! But it is a fact:
Using the ATF's own testing methods, the “non-machine gun” component
would perform just like the “machine gun” component – in fact, would do
so more easily. The FTB is aware of this; I've discussed it with their
personnel. Yet they persist in proclaiming that the belt-fed uppers are
“machine guns” and the magazine-fed uppers non-machine guns.
Why? No one
can be sure of their motivations, but based on the fact that they
tested the belt-feds and not the magazine-feds, it appears they simply
“knew” (as any TV viewer who ever watched a late-night war movie
“knows”) that anything belt-fed must be a machine gun.
Therefore they devised a test to prove what they already assumed.
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Conclusions
Inconsistent testing standards, faulty testing methods, and tests
seemingly designed to prove a foregone conclusion, are a major
inconvenience and financial problem for a manufacturer. For a defendant
in a felony firearms case the ATF's lack of scientific method could
mean a very long prison sentence for an innocent citizen, or a “get out
of jail free card” for a real criminal.
Without
clearly defined testing criteria and standards, and without test
results available to all interested parties, in every case (another
chronic problem), the FTB will continue to contradict itself and
produce faulty judgments and faulty evidence in legal cases.
The FTB, the
American firearms industry, prosecutors, and defense teams all need a
published and readily available procedural manual of testing criteria
and standards. And those procedures must rigorously follow scientific
method.
The current
lack of standards and the inability to replicate test results
invalidates FTB conclusions at best. At worst, the ATF's methods and
resulting claims could be construed as conspiracy to deny civil rights
to American citizens.
The FTB
resists the creation of industry oversight committee that would allow
genuine experts - gunsmiths, firearms manufacturers, and federal
firearms license holders - to have input into testing procedures.
Currently, those whose run afoul of faulty ATF methods and resulting
accusations of illegal activity and/or financial hardship have no means
of redress other than a civil suit. A method of checking and balancing
ATF behavior needs to be established to prevent institutional bias from
overwhelming the justice system and the firearms industry with bad
science and false accusations.
(1)“Readily
restorable” is a term used in the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA)
and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The term was never technically
defined when the laws were written or enacted. In practice, the term
"readily restorable" was written into the law to forbid any firearm
design that could be converted from semi-automatic to full-auto with "a
quick modification." “Quick modification” can be interpreted by FTB to
mean "15 minutes with simple hand tools" or "eight hours in a modern
machine shop" depending on the whim of the examiner.
**********
References
1. Wilson, E.
Bright. “An Introduction to Scientific Research” (Mcgraw-Hill, 1952)
2. Kuhn,
Thomas. “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (Univ. Of Chicago
Press, 1962).
3. Barrow,
John. “Theories of Everything” (Oxford Univ. Press, 1991).
4.
nsrl.rochester.edu
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