Notes from the Resistance
Gun Owners of America Files Motion for Summary Judgment Against ATF, Challenging NFA Provisions [More]
A familiar name is on page 3.
I understand civil litigation and FOIA stuff is considered nonessential and will be delayed by the shutdown, so we’ll see if this has to grab a ticket and line up in the queue.
Guess what else is delayed.
“There never was, and never will be, a tenable pathway for Hunt,” they said in the memo. “It’s time for the vanity project that could cost Republicans control of the Senate and dilute our resources to end.” [More]
I dunno– Cornyn is a weasel gun owners will stay home over and Paxton comes with exploitable scandals.
Why don’t they drop out and the Republicans throw everything they’ve got behind a guy who actually gets it?
[Via Michael G]
Australia Police Seize Guns from Dozens of Owners Over Personal “Sovereign Citizen” Statements [More]
True, they don’t have a First or a Second Amendment, but contrary to popular opinion, Australians have a right to free speech and a right to keep and bear arms. Everyone does.
What most don’t have is the will to keep violence monopolists from denying them.
Received via email:
There’s still time to register for the Ultimate CCW Class coming up on Sunday, Oct. 12. This is a comprehensive CCW certification and refresher course for new and experienced gun owners alike. Click here for complete information.
We also have a Protecting Houses of Worship training event on Saturday, Nov. 1 in Mayfield Heights. Training will include the history of active killing events, including current tragedies, as well as medical training, tactics, and active killer response scenarios. Click here for itinerary and topics covered.
Finally, we’ve marked down the Traveler’s Guide to the Firearm Laws of the Fifty States to only $11.95. Click here to get your copy now.
Montana Shooting Sports Association is at a crossroads. Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) needs to either grow substantially or begin spooling down. I just had my 79th birthday and will not be able to carry the MSSA load much longer. To set MSSA up to carry on will require money and members, lots of both. [More]
Gary Marbut has been the engine that has kept things going in more ways than I could summarize. If Montana gun owners don’t appreciate the sacrifices he has made on their behalf, the innovation in his thinking to protect their rights, and the sheer determination of pulling the load every day, step by step, with unflagging devotion, if the greatest enemy of the animating contest for freedom, apathy, prevails, they’ll bring Mr. Churchill’s terrifying assessment down on their own (and our) heads, and Mr. Adams’ judgment on their souls.
Montana gun owners have the choice of doing things the easy way or the hard way. Not doing anything is simply surrendering that choice to those who would leave them none– under force of arms.
NFA approvals are paused until the shutdown ends. This means no new tax stamps will be issued until ATF staff return to work. [More]
I wonder what text, history, and tradition have to say about that…
AI Overview
Due to the 2025 federal government shutdown, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) has halted the processing of NFA firearms approvals, such as those for suppressors and short-barreled rifles. The ATF eForms system remains online for submissions, but applications will not be reviewed or approved until the shutdown ends and staff return to work.
Here is what you need to know about the current situation:
Approvals are paused: While you can still submit NFA paperwork, no new tax stamps will be issued during the government shutdown. This applies to all National Firearms Act (NFA) items.
Submissions are still possible: You can continue to file and certify NFA paperwork electronically through the eForms portal or other platforms. Submitting your application now will secure your place in the processing queue once the government reopens.
Delays are expected: When the shutdown ends, a backlog of applications will likely cause a delay in processing times.
Status of NFA regulations: Recent legislation, “H.R. 1 – One Big Beautiful Bill,” was signed in July 2025 and eliminated the $200 NFA tax for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, effective January 1, 2026.
However, registration and compliance requirements remain. The tax repeal does not change the requirement to submit all necessary forms (Form 1 or Form 4, fingerprints, photos) and maintain records.
On Friday we celebrated DOJ Civil Rights filing an amicus brief with SCOTUS on Wolford v Lopez, the case out of Hawaii where there is a circuit split on “whether private property no carry default violates the Second Amendment.”
That’s the case where Alan Beck is one of the attorneys for petitioners.
Stephen Stamboulieh, who has worked with Alan on numerous efforts, as well as represented me, shares his thoughts:
In an interview, Gottlieb noted that the organization has “been obviously working very closely with the Trump Administration.” However, he stipulated that “we don’t like to get into details talking about who we’re working with and how we’re accomplishing it.” [More]
Why not? Those are our rights being talked about in the back room, and if we have no input, who knows what kind of “deal” will be worked out by our betters, and if we’ll find the cost/benefit trade-off acceptable?
No one is saying to lay out all details of the legal strategy so the enemy knows your battle plans, but existing briefs and arguments mean they’re already pretty much known anyway. And if the “gun lobby” doesn’t have political/legal goals announced and prioritized by now, then what the hell?
I call bull$#!+ on “Rest assured we know best” attitudes. My feel is this has more to do with walking on eggshells and being able to jockey for credit. But when you have a longer reach, and a louder voice, you can ignore solutions that don’t provide for that.
Bondi’s DOJ Defends Unconstitutional Handgun Sales Ban — Another Betrayal of Trump’s Pro-Gun Agenda [More]
Maybe they need to up the lithium…
This is where I gotta address an administration apologist, attorney, author, and YouTube “gunfluencer Mark W. Smith of Four Boxes Diner fame, who seems to always find excuses for such disappointments and who doesn’t much like those of us who dare point out disconnects. But before I elaborate, I’ll stipulate he’s got me outmatched with academic and legal credentials, and that I’ll never win a Gundie (or for that matter, a bathing suit contest). And don’t get me wrong– I really do appreciate much of what he does. Just not all.
I’ll also stipulate that Donald Trump has done more to advance 2A than any president in my lifetime. We can help him do better, but not if we ignore infringements pushed by “our side.”
Here’s a direct quote, noting commentary like this is peppered throughout this presentation and increasingly showing up in others:
And it reiterates my point on this channel that a lot of those people in the Second Amendment community, and you know exactly who you are. You anti-Trumpers in the Second Amendment community whining and complaining about nonsensical things, about Amy Coney Barrett on one day, Pam Bond on another day, Donald Trump on another day, and you know exactly who you are .
Yeah, I know exactly who I am. Does he? Because if he thinks that’s why “we” do this, it makes me wonder what else he’s not factoring in, and how much of that is deliberate. To dismiss pointing out differences between promises and actions as “whining” is obnoxious and candidly, not an honest take.
Somebody’s got to point out when the emperor has no clothes, and our ideological leaders, of which he is one, shouldn’t be discouraging that.
As for Texas Gun Rights, which brought us the above-linked story, instead of dismissing them as “anti-Trump,” maybe we should talk with Brandon Hererra and Lt. Col. Allen West first.
And as long as I’m pointing out disagreements, as essential as “in common use” has proven to be in moving the ball this far, going forward it can and will be used to deny arms that are not. He’s had the opportunity to refute me and show me where I’m wrong, and truthfully, I wish he could.
As for criticisms earned by the Trump administration, and there are many in the mix, I keep coming back to how this could be easily avoided and we could live happily ever after singing his praises.
But not presuming to be “the smartest person in the room,” what the hell do I know?
[Via WiscoDave]
Federal Judge: Biden ATF Rule on Firearms Sales Cannot Be Used Against NRA Members [More]
Speaking as Life Member who is now covered, let me just say that equal protection should demand it apply to everyone else, as well.
Note the difference in that attitude, and the attitude of “Only Ones” benefiting from LEOSA but unwilling to invite those of us on the outside in.
[Via bondmen]
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a motion for summary judgment in a federal lawsuit challenging Hawaii’s ban on the acquisition and possession of firearms and ammunition for adults 18-20 years old. [More]
Great.
But the state has a virtually unlimited war chest, and 2A advocacy groups have to scramble up money from already overburdened activists.
Where are Harmeet Dhillon and Pam Bondi on this deprivation of rights under color of authority?
So why isn’t Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears making the Second Amendment an issue in her campaign? [More]
So much for help us help you. Talk about handing NRA an excuse to drag its feet.
My sense is it’s coming from the Virginia GOP. I base that on Youngkin going mum on guns in his campaign, and the way Hung Cao had a chance to show courage again but ran.
Its my belief that party “professionals'” are feeding the campaigns the arrogant old Lee Atwater line, “Who else are they going to vote for?”
That, of course, is exactly the wrong advice when the race is close and you’re trying to light a fire in bellies and get low-propensity gun voters off their @$$es and to the polls. And it makes me wonder if Swamp creatures are trying to lose, and discredit those who identify more with MAGA than with “moderates” as political forces to be reckoned with.
UPDATE
Governor Walz, DFL Leaders Release Proposal for Special Session on Guns, School Safety [More]
Here’s what they’re going for this time:
a. Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines ban b. Binary trigger ban c. Eliminate the ghost gun loophole d. Strengthen Extreme Risk Protection Orders, including increased funding for public outreach and education e. Expand school safety funding f. Increase funding for mental health treatment g. Strengthen prohibitions against domestic abusers to ensure they do not have access to firearms (HF 391) h. Increase criminal penalties for violent offenses committed with a firearm and increase criminal penalties for impersonating a police officer i. Increase funding to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team
And no, of course that won’t be all once they get these passed.
And just to drive the point home:
[Via Jess]
The Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi has continued to attack Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), treating it much the same way the Biden administration did. That decision is striking, because it puts Bondi’s DOJ at odds with both the text of the Constitution and President Trump’s own executive order directing agencies to protect Second Amendment rights. [More]
Perhaps it’s time to update the lithium dosage…
[Via bondmen]
Creates the Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act. Establishes a firearms manufacturer licensing program in the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, with certain requirements, including that the sum of all fees for firearms manufacturer licenses shall be equal to the public health costs and financial burdens from firearm injuries and deaths. [More]
“Skirt protections,” eh?
There’s nothing “novel’ about being Democrat punks who continue to harass even though they know this spits on the face of the SCOTUS-held text, history, and tradition standard. They know they have unlimited tax plunder resources and can drag private plaintiff efforts and expenses on for years, all with impunity, that is, no personal repercussions.
To them it’s a game of “Gotcha!”
Some of us aren’t playing.
[Via Jess]
In granting summary judgment in favor of SAF, the court granted both declaratory and injunctive relief, declaring the ban unconstitutional and preventing its enforcement for the plaintiffs, including SAF members. Originally filed in June 2024, the lawsuit challenges the ban on firearms carry in U.S. Post Offices and on postal property. SAF is joined in the case, FPC v. Bondi, by the Firearms Policy Coalition and two private citizens. [More]
So, all of these?
And for all of us or just “plaintiffs, including SAF members”?
Why did “pro-gun” Pam Bondi have to be sued? Why didn’t she stand down, or better, denounce the ban and side with plaintiffs?
And will she appeal?
Nice to see something some of us have been calling for for almost 25 years — DOJ enforcing the Second Amendment — finally start to move forward. Be nicer to see it being about something more freedom-oriented than permits.
Considering Bruen ‘n all, who thinks those would have been a show-stopper for Tench Coxe…?
SAF FILES AMICUS IN KNIFE RIGHTS CASE CHALLENGING CA’S BAN ON SWITCHBLADES [More]
The principles of spring-loaded blades were understood in the mid-18th Century, so of course, Bruen applies.
I just got my copy of the November/December 2025 issue in the mail, featuring my Gun Rights article, “Is the Second Amendment an Obsolete Relic of Another Time?” on pg. 73.
This is my fourth (and looks like final) column for this magazine since they announced they are discontinuing print editions. As for going forward with a digital publication, so far no one has approached me and I figure right now they’re all scrambling to adjust, adapt, and see what continuation will look like.
You might want to see if you can pick up a copy at your local news stand because the last issue of a magazine that has been published for over half a century might be a collector’s item some day.
