“@TheJusticeDept is continuing a lawsuit alongside NY AG Letitia James against: Brownells, Primary Arms, 80% Arms, Rainier Arms, Glockstore,” Gun Owners of America posted Wednesday on X.com. “They are being persecuted for selling 80% kit guns in 2016 despite ATF approval, by applying VanDerStok retroactively.”
Included was an April 9 supplemental letter brief filing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by Matthew Podolsky, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (see below) declaring:
“In sum, VanDerStok conclusively agrees with the government’s position in this case: ‘[t]he GCA embraces [Gun Control Act] … some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers.’ … The decision confirms that the district court in this case was correct in holding that defendants’ products are firearms under the GCA, and its denial of defendants’ motion to dismiss should be affirmed.”
“They can’t ex post facto that s_!” one commenter complained. “Ex post facto, google it…,” another agreed.
“Ex Post Facto is criminal only,” a lawyer friend explains. “There is a due process equivalent on the civil side, but the court would likely get around that with the fiction that ‘the law always was this way, we just didn’t realize it until now.’”
Regardless, what this leads to is an obvious question for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who on the day before Podolsky filed his supplement announced her 2nd Amendment Task Force — in a memorandum to all hands, including Podolsky – that declared “It is the policy of this Department of Justice to use its full might to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens”:
Who’s setting policy here? Who’s minding the store?
Does this constitute an open rebellion among embedded Democrat sympathizers at the DOJ, or is it part of Bondi’s chronic on-again/off-again inconsistencies over “shall not be infringed”?
Change will be coming, Constitutional attorney and Gundie Award winner Mark W. Smith of The Four Boxes Diner explains, promising his viewers that “their eyes are on the prize and the Second Amendment. The Trump administration is coming to save you.”
“Two critical things … had to occur,” Smith elaborates. “[T]he United States Senate had to confirm attorney Harmeet Dhillon to be the head of the Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights, because once that occurred, that allowed that office to start really functioning again and going on the attack against people that violated our Second Amendment rights…”
“[L]ikewise, I said you cannot have major position changes at the high levels of federal law including the United States Supreme Court and these courts of appeals until the Trump administration once and for all has its formal confirmed solicitor general, which has just occurred with John Sauer…” Smith asserts.
The thing is, if Smith knows this, the Acting USA does as well. So, what gives with Podolsky’s very public filing, siding with notorious New York Democrat gun prohibitionists? And will AG Bondi and her new appointees now rein him in and slap him down?
The recent motion to dismiss a case against a citizen for possessing a CZ Scorpion equipped with an SB Tactical brace, deemed an unregistered short-barreled rifle (SBR) in violation of the National Firearms Act, comes to mind. But it happened only after a loud uproar from outraged gun owners feeling betrayed by an administration that would not have been elected but for their wanting to see Donald Trump’s campaign promises about “our beautiful Second Amendment” fulfilled.
I’ve proposed a way to get gun owner views considered before binding decisions are made that can go a long way toward keeping the administration from stirring up anger and resentment, and then needing to issuing embarrassing public reversals after cluelessly provoking outrage:
Gun rights leaders and legal scholars could be identified and nominated to analyze and prioritize bills, lawsuits, regulations, opportunities, and threats, to advise on judicial and other federal nominees, and to help educate the public… Such a body could nip misunderstandings and surprises in the bud and put a stop to much of the Second Amendment bipolarity we see being manifested in Justice, where one day they come out with an announcement gun owners cheer, and the next do something that leaves us slapping our foreheads and wondering what the hell is wrong with these people.
If Donald Trump can appoint an advisory council for Homeland Security including, among others, “conservative commentator” Mark Levin, he can appoint one for the Second Amendment. It’s either that or have DOJ keep coming up with surprises that do nothing but demoralize gun owners and breed mistrust. The administration needs to keep in mind the midterms aren’t all that far away, and what will happen then will determine what it can – and can’t – accomplish for the remainder of its term, and GOP chances in the next one.
Mr. President, Madam Attorney General, gun owners can be much more than campaign window dressing. Involve us. Let us help.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
