SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the ATF’s recent records-seizing raid on Polymer 80.
T.E. Lawrence on Guerilla Warfare
Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson recommended this book excerpt, over at the Soldiers of the Night blog: “The Science of Guerilla Warfare” – T.E. Lawrence
The ATF’s Polymer80 Search and Seizure
Reader Dave C. mentioned this news, from Nevada: Dayton-based gun manufacturer raided by ATF for selling ‘ghost guns’. JWR’s Comment: This incident smacks of political grandstanding by the ATF’s senior administrators. I suspect that they are maneuvering to retain their appointed positions — since Joe Biden is presumed to be the next U.S. President. The home of the company’s president was also searched. It is noteworthy that nobody was arrested nor charges filed when the search warrant was exercised, but that sales records were seized. ATF agents are reportedly now fanning out to “visit” and “interview” the Polymer80 customers and demand the surrender of Polymer80 “Buy, Build, Shoot” kits. This matches the ATF’s long-standing modus operandi of intimidation, bullying tactics, conflicting and rescinded messages, obfuscation, refusal to define terms, and clear attempts to instill fear.
ATF Plans to Reclassify Many Arm-Braced Pistols as SBRs
Over at The Military Arms Channel comes this video alert with some bad news: DOJ seeks to make braced pistols NFA items. There are more than 3 million braced pistols out there, mostly 5.56mm ARs with 10.5-inch barrels. The most popular arm brace is the SB Tactical SBA3 — with more than 1 million in circulation. Here is a link to the leaked draft letter that starts out by discussing “objective” standards, but then wanders into plenty of subjective judgment calls.
I’m predicting a severe and almost immediate shortage of 5.5″-long AR flash hiders (commonly called “XM177-style” flash hiders), to weld on. (High-temperature silver soldering is also acceptable for barrel extensions.) So I recommend placing an order for as many as you need, IMMEDIATELY. Why? Because most owners will not want to do an ATF SBR registration, even if the ATF waives the $200 transfer tax. And an AR pistol with no brace–just a buffer tube–is very awkward and uncomfortable. 5’5″ flash hider costs only about $40. Full barrel replacement (with a 16″ barrel) is much more expensive!
Texans Talk Secession
Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: As Texas talks secession, how many states would support such a move?