So all this talk about Amnesty for pistol braces seems centered around personally assembled pistols, which would therefor need a Form 1. If the ATF is redefining braced pistols as SBRs, wouldn't that make all the ones sold from the factory with braces, factory SBRs, needing a Form 4 and therefor NO extra Engraving?
I mean they redefined the solvent traps, and then justified they should have been sold on a form 4, would the same hold true for the pistols/SBRs? If you did form 1 one of them now, what's stopping them from coming back later saying it should have been form 4'ed?

Going further, could/would the ATF go to the manufacturers/ FFLs and demand customer records for all the pistols they sold? Then going door to door demanding proof it was converted or face confiscation and or jail?

How far down thw rabbit hole do you go?
[/conspiracy theory]

How about amnesty registrations (you register tax-free) like they did in 1968?

And while we're at it, a short amnesty period to register all NFA items, including full auto and destructive devices, for free?
I mean, it shouldn't take the NFA division more than 10-15 years to process 90 days worth of amnesty registrations, am I right?

You wouldn't use a Form 4 to register a firearm in the NFRTR as a Form 4 is only for a "transfer" of an existing firearm.  Form 1, 2s, and 10s can be used to make and register a Firearm.

If this theoretical Pistol brace amnesty works like the previous Streetsweeper, Striker, and USAS Amnesty you would not be required to engrave the firearm as you did not "make" it the OEM manufacturer (SWD, Sentinel, or Gilbert) manufactured the firearm and you are just "registering" it via a non-tax paid Form 1 due to a reclassification.  If you are an FFL/SOT 07/02 you may use a Form 2 vs. a Form 1 as well.

I can say that my individual amnesty registered Striker-12 doesn't have any additional engraving and the Form 1 that was used to register it lists Sentinel Arms as the original manufacturer.

The ATF did track down as many sales records for these shotguns as possible and attempt to proactively notify their owners of the reclassification.  Per the ATF updates when they closed the amnesty in 2001, they reported to accept ~8200 registrations out of ~17,000 guns between the three types that got reclassified.  I never heard of the BATFE going to the doors of people who they got a record of ownership via the 4473 but that person never registered the firearm.  Technically you didn't have to register, you could just remove and permanently separate the barrel from the receiver, destroy the firearm, or surrender it so just because you didn't register didn't mean you were in possession of an illegal DD after the amnesty closed.

Whether that is how a proposed Amnesty Pistol Brace program would work and would they require engraving on a factory braced pistol (or any braced pistol even if assembled by an individual from parts), will you use a standard Form 1 or will they come up some some new amnesty Form 1 doc, etc. is all a complete guess at this point.

For braced pistols, they may very well ask for assistance from OEM manufacturers who sold factory braced pistols, but given the ATFs propensity for mass copying 4473 they probably know the vast majority of folks who bought factory braced pistols.  However my guess is that less than half will get registered and the majority will just remove the brace or update the brace config to one that doesn't meet the size/weight/points requirement to be an SBR.  So going and kicking in half a million owners doors who didn't register is probably just not practical or legal when there are so many other options to comply other than registration.

Neither Form 1 or 4 is appropriate or legal. If they reclassify them as NFA items, the only appropriate route is as an Amnesty registration on an amnesty form, regardless of who manufactured the item. Since there is no tax there is no stamp, and no marking requirement. Since 1968 it's not lawful to Form 1 or 4 an existing NFA item, the only lawful route is an Amnesty registration which is why there is a codified and authorized in perpetuity process for amnesties.

Wasn’t there an appeals court thing recently that read a regulatory agency can only enforce legislation and is basically powerless to enforce opinions that they publish ?

I don't think they will go door to door for 100% of the customer list on day 1. But they don't have to.


I think that they'll decide "hey let's go shoot SCARed's dog today, he bought a RBT / Brace / Solvent Trap / Multiple Lowers".  It might be names out of a hat; it might be tips from the IRS; it might be because you are already on the NFA list from a legal F4 purchase; it might be because of a bumper sticker or yard sign; it might be because of a tip from your doctor or psychologist or medical marijuana card or your employer; it might be your professor or your kids principal or your neighbor Karen.

It might be "let's do all on Main St" today, then all in this zip code next month; then all last names with A next week.

It might be all conceal permit holders. It might be all purchasers with the new MCC coding.  It might be you get pulled over for a speeding ticket, and before you drive off, the local field ATF agent shows up and shoots your dog in the backseat.

There are 1714 ATF agents as of December 2019 (Google).  Working in pairs, for their local field AO, they could probably shoot 857 dogs a day.  That's only 587 workdays to kill 500,000 brace owners' dogs. Two years, or until Biden leaves. office. It's not impossible or impractical. Or inconceivable.

857 dogs a day per agent pair seems awfully efficient and hardworking for the average Federal law enforcement agency, much less the ATF.  

1714 agents divided into pairs of 2 === 857 agent teams

One agent team can visit one deplorable household and kill one dog per day.

857 agent teams can visit 857 houses per day.

500,000 houses divided by 857 houses/day === 583 days required.  Roughly two work years.

Each team kills 857 dogs. But only one dog per day per team.

It does add up.

Now what if it's not 500,000 households with braces, but 1000 RBTs from the GunBroker seller who flipped his customer list.  And maybe the 200 ATF field offices (ATF website has 9 pages of 25 each) only run one dog shooting team each.  And only one dog per week.  That's still only five weeks to visit each RBT buyer from the GunBroker flip.

Ah.  Ok.  I thought each team was killing 857 dogs.

But the math only works out in the long term if the government agents make it home each night.  I don’t think the government is quite at the level of compiling kill lists and giving them over to kill teams just yet.

Sure would be a shame if people found out where ATF agents lived. Damn, that might be scary for them.

That timeline expands considerably once you start taking minecraftian losses into account

I think there are two projects right now.

The RBT GunBroker list.
The diversified machine list.

I'm just guessing those are  100s of names. I really don't know.

Braces are a much bigger list.

There was also the "imported Glock switch from China" list

But there is no provision in the original Amnesty law for a single item amnesty. What the ATF did with streetsweepers was technically incorrect. The law allows a 30-90 day amnesty for anything to be added to the registry

Indeed. Which is why it seems like they're trying to end-run around having an amnesty. They really don't want to open that door. Then again, it's been nearly 55 years, likely not that many people know or understand what an amnesty would be in order to take advantage of it.

With the current state of the administrative state they'll just do whatever anyway, knowing there won't be any accountability for it in the courts, certainly not in the media. Legislative oversight is a cruel joke.