Preparedness Notes for Thursday — December 24, 2020

 Print This Post Email This Post Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Google LinkedIn LinkedIn

December 24 is the anniversary of when John Joe Gray’s legal troubles began, in 2000. He and his family had been self-sufficiently holed up in their Texas ranch for nearly 15 years, in defiance of a warrant for his arrest, before the district attorney dropped the charges. This was the longest standoff in American history, in which he faced the administrations of four different county sheriffs.

—

Some good news was announced on Wednesday evening, from our friends at The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC):

Today, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) issued “the withdrawal of a notice and request for comments” regarding the agency’s recently published “guidance” document captioned “Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with ‘Stabilizing Braces’.” The ATF’s notice of withdrawal can be found at FPCLegal.org.

On December 16, 2020, FPC published a memorandum entitled “ATF to Issue Guidance on ‘Stabilizing Braces’,” reporting on the agency’s intent to further address firearms with stabilizing brace devices. That memorandum also stated that “FPC believes that the NFA is an unconstitutional infringement of the People’s rights, that the ATF should be abolished, and that any policy or practice enforcing the Act is unconstitutional and immoral.”

Two days later, the ATF’s guidance was published in the Federal Register “to inform and invite comment from the industry and public” for a period of 14 days. The notice purported to give the public guidance as to factors that the agency would use to “determine” whether a handgun equipped with a “stabilizing brace” was a firearm regulated by the National Firearms Act (“NFA”).

But in the same announcement, the FPC warned:

“While the ATF is apparently withdrawing this particular “guidance” at this time, the matter is still “pending further Department of Justice review,” which could lead to ATF taking different and potentially far more aggressive actions in the near future, especially under a Joseph Biden-led administration.”

Even though the daft draft guidance letter was withdrawn, please go ahead and make a comment. (One thing that the leftists say has some truth to it: “Silence is consent.”)  Please make your comment short, to the point, and polite. DO NOT use any profanity, crude language, or insults.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 92 ends on January 31, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.


12 Comments

  1. re:
    California senator kamala harris

    Fact:
    As of December 24th, 2020, kamala harris has not resigned from her senate position.

    Supposings:
    I think somebody is hedging her bets in case she didn’t get elected vice-prez.
    I think somebody knows something, and she wants to keep her regular gig because that vice-prez promise may not come true.
    .
    .
    source:
    * harris.senate.gov

    1. I should note, I am not a sovereign, not a supporter of that approach. However, the overall, in-depth parts of this are what I believe should be made more mainstream. Sovereigns are often people who are uneducated and at the end of their ropes. This is not always the case, and I can definitely understand the sentiment involved regardless.

    2. Yeah nothing says American hero like blowing up a bridge so good hard working folks can’t go to work.
      Nothing says hero like SCs renting apartments, getting cell phones and utilities then not paying cause “my straw man” and passing the cost off to others who actually work for a living.
      Nothing says hero like SCs filing liens on your house for $35 just because you made one mad one day and you never find out until you go to sell it and can’t because a fictitious company has a lien that can’t be cleared.
      Nothing says true believers like not believing in federal government but using the post office and federal courts to sue everyone.

  3. RE ATF

    The pistol brace issue is a temporary win, it will be ‘banned’ in the next 4 years.

    ah, i liked my ar pistol as a trunk gun, while it lasted

    li

  4. Some would say this makes you a target, it is not the first time nor will it be the last time I use my God given Rights.

    Click here for the accessible version
    Your Comment Submitted on Regulations.gov (ID: ATF-2020-0001-0001)
    Thu, Dec 24, 2020 7:34 am
    no-reply@regulations.gov no-reply@regulations.govHide
    To [Deleted by Editor]
    Regulations Logo

    Please do not reply to this message. This email is from a notification only address that cannot accept incoming email.

    Your comment was submitted successfully!

    Comment Tracking Number: 1k4-9kto-3v95

    Your comment may be viewable on Regulations.gov once the agency has reviewed it. This process is dependent on agency public submission policies/procedures and processing times. Use your tracking number to find out the status of your comment.

    Agency: Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives Bureau (ATF)
    Document Type: Nonrulemaking
    Title: Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with “Stabilizing Braces”
    Document ID: ATF-2020-0001-0001
    Comment:
    NFA is an unconstitutional infringement of the People’s rights, that the ATF should be abolished, and that any policy or practice enforcing the Act is unconstitutional and immoral.

    Uploaded File(s):
    No files uploaded

    This information will appear on Regulations.gov:
    First Name: [Deleted by Editor]
    Last Name: [Deleted by Editor]

    This information will not appear on Regulations.gov:
    Mailing Address: [Deleted by Editor]
    City: [Deleted by Editor]
    Country: United States
    State or Province: [Deleted by Editor]
    ZIP/Postal Code: [Deleted by Editor]
    Email Address: [Deleted by Editor]
    Phone Number: [Deleted by Editor]

    For further information about the Regulations.gov commenting process, please visit https://www.regulations.gov/faqs.
    Reply Reply All Forward

  6. What’s also important to know about John Joe Gray’s self sufficiency is that they had outside supporters bringing food and supplies to them according to news articles written about them in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Without that support they may not have been able to last as long as they did.

  9. I just read the article about John Joe Gray on Wikipedia and noticed an obvious contradiction: At the beginning of the article is the following quote “John Joe Gray (born March 15, 1950)…” and at the very end of the article is says “John Joe Gray correct birth date is March 2, 1949.” So is it the 15th or the 2nd of March and is it in 1950 or 1949? An obvious question would be if they can’t even get his birthday / year right how many other tidbits of information about him are skewed or patently false. I’ve heard a few rumors about myself in the past that were totally wrong. He would be an interesting individual to actually get to visit with face to face. Sorry, Facebook, your slant does not count with me.

Comments are closed.