Open Source Defense

They say never meet your heroes because you are bound to be disappointed, and I suppose that is true as a general rule. But I recently found out it is not always true. A mutual friend put me in touch with one of my 2A heroes, Robert Cottrol. Dr. Cottrol is a professor at George Washington Law, and he and his co-author Brannon Denning have written what, for my money, is one of the best books in the 2A space: “To Trust the People with Arms.” If you have not read To Trust, I recommend that you run, not walk, to the nearest computer and order it this minute. On second thought, you may want to wait until October when the new edition comes out. Anyway, I ventured over to GWL earlier this week to meet Dr. Cottrol. I sat down in his office and within minutes the two of us were happily geeking away on assorted 2A topics, mutual friends, and mutual foes. And before the meeting was over, Bob gave me the benefit of a brilliant idea. Before I tell you the idea, here’s some context: In various briefs I have written over the years, I have countered the whole “weapons of war” canard by noting that if “weapons of war” are not protected, the federal government distributes unprotected arms every time it sells a surplus Garand through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Bob’s idea is this. In these arguments we should not focus on the Garand. Instead, we should focus on the M1 carbine. Why? Because M1 carbines have a detachable magazine AND a bayonet lug. That makes them official “assault weapons” under the “features” test in many of the statutes. The argument then becomes “How is it possibly the case that if I live in X state, I commit a serious crime when I purchase a firearm from my own government?” Like I said. Brilliant.

@PaperhackWriter Good call

@opensrcdefense I'd say we're in a Silver Age right now and have been since about 2010 or so. An age where we're not really inventing anything new, but we're reaching peak optimization and standardization of existing designs.

The first was from 1873 to 1934, and saw the invention of the core designs that nearly every modern firearm still uses. The second golden age started in 2004 with the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban. It continues through the present.

Many such cases.

"the sword of SBRocles" Nicely done @opensrcdefense 🫡😎😊

@punishedkomrade Hope springs eternal

@opensrcdefense Between allowing the import of dual use parts and Blanche's statement that they're reevaluating suitability for sporting purposes, it sounds like the Bush 41 ban & 922(r) will be getting the axe soon

Some upgrades, like formally repealing the pistol brace rule and getting rid of SBR engraving. But a pro-2A DOJ can show more after 15 months of work. Six years ago, we made a list of 10 pro-2A moves a president can do. At this point, 2 are done and 8 aren't: - Repeal Bush 41’s assault weapon import ban ❌ Not done - Redefine “armor-piercing ammo” to re-allow banned ammo types ❌ Not done - Redefine 922(r) out of existence ❌ Not done - Bring back kitchen table FFLs, and make a new internet-sales FFL (this is in the 2017 ATF white paper) ✅ Done - Repeal the photos and fingerprints parts of ATF Rule 41F (an Obama-era rule change), so that trusts don’t need photos and fingerprints for their members. (Careful here: Rule 41F also changed “you need CLEO approval” to “you just need to notify your CLEO, but they can’t stop you” — that was a very important positive change to keep.) ❌ Not done - Expansive allowance for pistol braces. Make it official that anything goes. ✅ Done - Grant a blanket lawful purposes exemption for gun possession to people in the country on nonimmigrant visas (tourists, students, etc.) ❌ Not done - Machine gun amnesty ❌ Not done - Presumptive approvals for Form 1s and Form 4s. They approve it instantly, and then can claw it back months later or whatever if you get denied. This is how NICS checks already work — if you don’t get a yes/no within 3 days, you can take the gun home and then they just claw it back if you eventually get rejected. ❌ Not done - C&R firearms are defined as any gun more than 50 years old, or *any gun that the ATF deems to be a C&R*. They could add a massive influx of modern guns to the C&R list. Basically all the cool ‘70s–‘90s guns. There’s no reason the Steyr AUG and MP5 and FAL and the like shouldn’t be considered classics. Hell, AKs too. ❌ Not done

Not sure if this means the ATF will allow in-state FFLs to ship straight to your door, but if they do, the gun market is going to the moon.

When I decided to buy an SVT, I was wondering why the hell they were so expensive, because several million were made. Apparently it's because they were banned from import by Bush 41 under that assault weapon import ban, so there's actually not that many in the US. It's based on an EO that Bush issued, so would actually be rather easy for Trump to reverse it.

What can a president do completely unilaterally for gun rights? Here's a list: - Repeal Bush 41’s assault weapon import ban - Redefine “armor-piercing ammo” to re-allow banned ammo types - Redefine 922(r) out of existence - Bring back kitchen table FFLs, and make a new internet-sales FFL (this is in the 2017 ATF white paper) - Repeal the photos and fingerprints parts of ATF Rule 41F (an Obama-era rule change), so that trusts don’t need photos and fingerprints for their members. (Careful here: Rule 41F also changed “you need CLEO approval” to “you just need to notify your CLEO, but they can’t stop you” — that was a very important positive change to keep.) - Expansive allowance for pistol braces. Make it official that anything goes. - Grant a blanket lawful purposes exemption for gun possession to people in the country on nonimmigrant visas (tourists, students, etc.) - Machine gun amnesty - Presumptive approvals for Form 1s and Form 4s. They approve it instantly, and then can claw it back months later or whatever if you get denied. This is how NICS checks already work — if you don’t get a yes/no within 3 days, you can take the gun home and then they just claw it back if you eventually get rejected. - C&R firearms are defined as any gun more than 50 years old, or *any gun that the ATF deems to be a C&R*. They could add a massive influx of modern guns to the C&R list. Basically all the cool ‘70s–‘90s guns. There’s no reason the Steyr AUG and MP5 and FAL and the like shouldn’t be considered classics. Hell, AKs too.

@KDKactual 🫡

@opensrcdefense Not in California :(

If this goes through as-is, it does read like you'd no longer need to register suppressors or SBRs. If that happens, we're on the fast track to a world where most guns have suppressors. Often integral ones.

Wrote this a while ago to chart out what happens to silencers once they're deregulated: opensourcedefense.substack.com/p/osd-270-the-… Tldr: they're going to get a lot better, cheaper, and more ubiquitous.

34! Wow. Excited to read what they have come up with.