I'm sharing the email blast here that went out to all members of the ACGG below. It is a little long but I ask that you please read it and consider taking action on Rep. Steve Scalise letter. It is a small step but a beginning none the less. Much of it you all ready know I'm sure but the letter was written for the person who knew nothing. I'm still waiting to hear back from State Department on over twenty questions that I sent to them. More on that when I hear from them. Thanks for you time.
Michael

AMERICAN CUSTOM GUNMAKERS GUILD
445 HARNESS WAY, MONUMENT, CO 80132
719-645-0335



On 22 July, 2016, the United States Department of State announced that “The Directorate of Defense and Trade Controls (DDTC) has reviewed and consolidated policy guidance about whether various activities related to firearms constitute manufacturing for International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 CFR Parts 120-130) purposes and require registration with DDTC and payment of a registration fee.” What does this mean for those who are engaged in what we know to be common, everyday gunsmithing activities? In a nutshell, it means that many of the activities that we, in the gunsmithing trade, undertake as a matter of course in the conduct of our daily business, are now considered “manufacturing activities” as defined by the US Department of State. It may also include those that do gunsmithing for themselves as a hobby, including those without an FFL. According to the United States Department of State Memo dated July 22, 2016, the below activities require registering with ITAR and paying the fee of 2250.00 as they “… meet the ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of “manufacturing” and, therefore, constitute “manufacturing” for ITAR purposes:”

Below are activities that would classify you as a manufacturer:
a.Use of any special tooling or equipment upgrading in order to improve the capability of assembled or repaired firearms;
b.Modifications to a firearm that change round capacity;
c.The production of firearm parts (including, but not limited to, barrels, stocks, cylinders, breech mechanisms, triggers, silencers, or suppressors;
d.The systemized production of ammunition, including the automated loading or reloading of ammunition;
e.The machining or cutting of firearms, e.g., threading of muzzles or muzzle break installation requiring machining, that results in an enhanced capability;
f.Rechambering firearms through machining, cutting, or drilling;
g.Chambering, cutting, or threading barrel blanks; and
h.Blueprinting firearms by machining the barrel.

Moreover, the DDTC has determined the following to not meet their definition of “manufacturing” and, therefore, do not require registration under ITAR:
a.Occasional assembly of firearm parts and kits that do not require cutting, drilling, or machining;
b.Firearm repairs involving one-for-one drop-in replacement parts that do not require any cutting, drilling, or machining for installation;
c.Repairs involving replacement parts that do not improve the accuracy, caliber, or other aspects of firearm operation
d.Hydrographic paint or Cerakote application or bluing treatments for a firearm;
e.Attachment of accessories to a completed firearm without drilling, cutting, or machining-such as attaching a scope, sling, or light to existing mounts or hooks, or attaching a flash suppressor, sound suppressor, muzzle brake, or similar item to a pre-threaded muzzle;
f.Cosmetic additions and alterations (including engraving) that do not improve the sights which do not improve the accuracy or operation of the firearm beyond its original capabilities; and
g.Manual loading or reloading of ammunition of .50 caliber or smaller.

The memo goes on to state that “Activities limited to the domestic sale or resale of firearms, the occasional assembly of firearms without drilling, cutting, or machining, and/or specific gunsmithing activities that do not improve the accuracy, caliber or operations of the firearm beyond its original capabilities (as described above) are not manufacturing within the context of the ITAR.”

To summarize, if you meet the DDTC’s definition of “manufacturer,” whether you have an FFL or not, you are required to register under ITAR and pay a $2,250.00 registration fee (which may be retroactive to 1997). One significant item to consider is that the US Department of State Memo makes no distinction between the professional gunsmith or the hobbyist. As such, it is reasonable to conclude that these restrictions apply to everyone across the board (not just the FFL holder) and would be applicable to other trades such as machinists who might be enlisted to make a part, even if only one time.

Needless to say, those of us in the custom firearm trade are taken aback by what we believe to be overreach by the US Department of State in their attempt to provide some modicum of domestic gun control. The poorly formulated definition that pigeon-holes custom gunmakers and gunsmiths into the “manufacturer” category is tacitly unacceptable and will only serve to end a uniquely American, centuries-old occupation and art form.

We at the ACGG are engaged in this issue. We have brought the matter to the attention of legislators and have sought, through those legislators, clarification, from the Department of State, on numerous items we feel were left “unsaid” or we feel were not considered when DDTC outlined its definition of “manufacturer.”

We are well aware that other organizations, with much deeper pockets than our own, are likewise engaged and “working” this issue as we speak. We wanted to let our membership and the public-at-large know that we are doing what we can do to help repeal this poorly-conceived directive.

We have been advised that a letter, led by Rep. Steve Scalise (LA), to Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been drafted, requesting that the ITAR registration requirements be immediately rescinded. At this time, there is at least one other signatory to the letter that we are aware of, Congressman Lamar Smith (TX).

What can you do to help? By your prompt action, you can help by contacting your representative and ask that he attach his name to Rep. Scalise’s letter. The letter is to be sent late this week, so time is of the essence.

We cannot overemphasize the importance of getting the DDTC directive rescinded. The broad-reaching impact of the ITAR registration requirement could end the custom gun trade as we know it, driving people who have spent decades in the trade out of business, ending what for many is more than an occupation, but a passion and way of life, thereby removing one of the last bastions of American craftsmanship. Please reach out to your respective representatives today and add your voice to the fight!



Best Regards,


MICHAEL ULLMAN, President



American Custom Gunmakers Guild

quote:

Originally posted by Michael_D_Ullman:
I'm sharing the email blast here that went out to all members of the ACGG below. It is a little long but I ask that you please read it and consider taking action on Rep. Steve Scalise letter. It is a small step but a beginning none the less. Much of it you all ready know I'm sure but the letter was written for the person who knew nothing. I'm still waiting to hear back from State Department on over twenty questions that I sent to them. More on that when I hear from them. Thanks for you time.
Michael

Is there an organized effort in this regard, maybe a petition (change.org?)?
ITAR's effects are bad enough when applied as intended, this is an overreach.

Michael,

Is that going to be the ACGG's entire actions on this. To simply ask people to write letters?
Considering that ITAR affects every custom gunmaker in the country and will literally destroy the ACGG, why don't you use some of the $300,000 plus that you have in the Amber Fund to hire a lawyer to file for a federal injunction against the implementation of ITAR? If not you can kiss custom guns and gunsmithing goodbye.

quote:

Originally posted by dave wesbrook:
Michael,

Is that going to be the ACGG's entire actions on this. To simply ask people to write letters?
Considering that ITAR affects every custom gunmaker in the country and will literally destroy the ACGG, why don't you use some of the $300,000 plus that you have in the Amber Fund to hire a lawyer to file for a federal injunction against the implementation of ITAR? If not you can kiss custom guns and gunsmithing goodbye.

Better yet, there are a lot of us on AR. Let's start a GOFUNDME or a Kickstarter campaign and hire a herd of lawyers.
There is a petition going around in California to reverse the recent round of anti-gun laws; we may be left coasters but we're not going down without a struggle.

I don't think John Kerry gives a rats ass about any custom gunsmiths. I do applaud the guild for starting this but I think we may be in the fight of our lives on this one.

While some will quit right away, I think many will pay up and keep going.

The more insidious and long term effect will be to discourage talented newcomers who don't want to or can't afford to deal with all the expense and administrative hurdles.

There is a petition:

https://petitions.whitehouse.g...ove-gunsmithing-itar

It only has 8,672 signatures of the 100,000 needed. Please sign up and spread the word, too.

Dave have you written your federal congressman and senators yet? If you have, thanks for doing so, it is a "small step but a beginning none the less", if I can quote myself. Also, thanks for your unsolicited financial advice as to how I should spend money the Executive Committee of the ACGG, including myself, are tasked with managing. Right now the NSSF, NRA, Congressional congress, Gunsmithing schools, the ACGG and others are all working on this. The ACGG was getting the word out for some immediate action that you could take to help with the recent rulings of the State Department. It wasn't a one and done proposition, and we won't be quitting when things don't go our way.

Will this be the end of custom gunsmithing in America if left alone? I highly doubt it. Will it be the end of many small and part time gunsmiths who are using their talents and passion for supplemental retirement income or as a second income? Yep, it will, the finical burden in both money spent and time on extra paperwork will drive some out. Leaving those who are willing and able to spend the money, but also leading to higher cost to the consumer because of the added burden and less competition. The ACGG's mission is to promote the art and craft of custom gunmaking. In accordance with that mission we will fight for, and spend what is necessary, to ensure the long American tradition of custom guns and their makers.

Michael: Just for t he record: I have contacted my democrat , liberal rep and senators. But I don't diminish the wisdom in doing so.

Politically, you were wise to give so much ink to part timers and hobbyist's. since they represent the membership backbone of the ACGG.

Can you assure the readers that all of the officers and directors hold a valid FFL? How about the ACGG membership?

Those full time professionals like myself, Wesbrook, Fisher who resigned their membership did so...even aster 30 plus years, realized the acgg had nothing to really offer to a professional.

Your Amber legacy (solicited by...surprise, surprise another part timer) is to be coveted since it has allowed over 30 years of self promotion.

Wesbrook suggested that just maybe, some of those funds could be put to a noble cause...a legal funding war chest!!..as long overdue action, in my opinion.

But, I suppose, as you pointed out to Wesbrook...it's just none of our business.

Heck all it will take for you guys is one feed job!



Sorry, I just had to!

quote:

Originally posted by Quick Karl:
Heck all it will take for you guys is one feed job!



Sorry, I just had to!

Not that funny, this did shut down many of us part timers and I doubt people like me being out of the trade is going to help the business of any of the big boys in the custom parts field. It just hurts people like you that are going to go without, because the lower priced mid grade option is going to be gone. The more fortunate people that can afford it will pay for the big boys fees. Good thing there is more money to be made in the auto industry here than guns anyway. But a shame.
Don

Agreed, Don. And can we just stop arguing about who is more "wonderful," and "deserves" to be in business while those not so wonderful somehow do not? And full time versus part time is another destructive conversation that just does not need to be had. If this keeps on, we can get so busy fighting among ourselves that we forget to fight the real enemy. And that's about as,stupid and small minded as it gets..

And if the wonderful anointed ones choose to adopt the attitude that fewer (small) gunsmiths somehow translates into "more for me," then we may very well reach a point where there is nothing for anybody. ... We are either all in this together or we are not.

Don Markey has always been extremely helpful to me, providing probably more information and guidance than anyone I have ever met in the gunsmith business, and I understand his point. But the blade cuts both ways.

Many, many times, I have seen, here and elsewhere, some of the "anointed ones" treat folks they feel are beneath them, pretty poorly. My post was my snarky way of saying, "how's it feel?" But in the larger, philosophical sense, this is one of the root causes for so much of what has gone wrong in this country.

Some years ago I was interested in having a firing pin turned from titanium for an 03 Springfield I was tinkering with. I was getting quotes of up to $400 to turn a piece of titanium that I supplied, and I was thereafter castigated for declining to have the work done because I "didn't know what I was talking about." A machinist turned the Titanium for me, on a manual lathe, for $50.00, and the pin works flawlessly...

ITAR isn't going to affect me one bit for a few reasons - I am not willing to pay highly inflated prices for what I have watched highly skilled 30-year old machinists do, faster and more precisely, I've never had any interest, whatsoever, in owning any "dangerous game" rifle that costs bank (beyond thinking that they look real nice), and I can't even think of another rifle I want beyond the rifles I already have.

But Don's point is taken, and I hope that the regulation is overturned, because I know it will hurt the small shops and hobbyists.

Everything in life is politics, and everything that goes around, comes around, and no one is immune.

Yes because even the old machinist that turned that pin can't legally do it without paying the itar fee. Those sights I made, yep no more without itar. If I read it right no parts or accessories can be made without paying for those fees. Will/can they be inforced? I don't want to find out the hard way.
Don

The reality is that it will be just like the electrical industry. Here in Canada you need to have a license to operate as a gunsmith. You need insurance (if you can afford it.) You also need approved storage, alarms, record keeping, tax to file and the list goes on. That doesn't stop every Tom, Dick and Harry from doing gun repairs. The cost of doing business here in Canada has driven almost all of the professional gunsmiths out of business and most of the remaining people are untrained and working out of their basements and garages and learning as they go as a cottage industry. The last time I heard I was the last guy in Alberta that actually had been to school and did it full time. Alberta is nearly as big as Texas.

But it's no different in other fields. An electrician also has to have a full education and also has to have permits for every job and everything has to be to code. It's actually harder than being a gunsmith in some respects. That doesn't stop thousands of people from wiring houses and basements on the side for other people. A realtor friend of mine claims that 20% of the houses in Alberta are incorrectly wired, not to code, virtual fire traps and no one gives a rats ass.

Basically the people in authority who regulate these trades are so busy regulating the legal side of it that they don't even bother to try to follow up on the huge illegal side of it. At least here, it's simply created a huge cottage industry of slippery, under the table, non taxable labor. The only people the laws scare are the honest and upfront people.

Well put Rod, it's just the price of doing business and it's not going to get any easier regardless if we all band together and storm the State Dept. castle.

The moat is to wide, to deep and in the mean time I have bills to pay like everyone else. I'm sending the check.

quote:

To summarize, if you meet the DDTC’s definition of “manufacturer,” whether you have an FFL or not, you are required to register under ITAR and pay a $2,250.00 registration fee (which may be retroactive to 1997).

The bold is what's important here. This will not just affect the small guys or the part timers but those gunsmiths/builders who have been at this for a longer period of time.

In essence, the $2250.00 is just the initial fee. The retroactive cost is what will kill off most of the smaller well known 'smiths. I have heard from several who have been informed of costs approaching $30,000.00 to bring them up to current standards. That's 13 years from this year or 2003. Most have indicated that they are unwilling to throw that much money at the government just to keep the doors open. This is the same sentiment that I have heard from dozens of others when the amount of paperwork is added into the mix.

And now we have the gunpowder problem to add in...

A friend of mine is a dentist. The permits that he requires and the storage requirements for the drugs he uses, plus the insurance costs in case he kills or maims some one would make you eyes bleed ! On top of that the government likes to audit him every second day to make sure that he is not working under the table for cash or selling drugs on the sly.

In a way, we just haven't had to put up with these rectal exams yet and now that it is getting tougher we find it sort of scary. We just aren't used to it. But it's out there and it's going to get worse for us too. Socialist governments live by regulating. That's how they create bureaucratic jobs! The whole trick is to get rid of the socialists.

quote:

According to the United States Department of State Memo dated July 22, 2016, the below activities require registering with ITAR and paying the fee of 2250.00 as they “… meet the ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of “manufacturing” and, therefore, constitute “manufacturing” for ITAR purposes:”

I could of course be wrong, but it seems to me that "for ITAR purposes" means that the regulations only refer to international traffic in arms. The State Department is facilitating the enforcement of an international agreement, not changing the rules for domestic gunsmithing, over which it has no jurisdiction.

Even if the regulations apply as I interpret them, I may be in trouble, since I have several rifles currently being worked on by a gunsmith in Germany which I plan to import as soon as he is finished with them.

That's what it should mean. However a phone call I made to the ITAR help desk made it apparent that the intent is for the regs to apply to all gunsmiths who cut on or machine firearms. The reasoning is that any of these firearms could theoretically make it out of the country.

quote:

Originally posted by xausa:

quote:

According to the United States Department of State Memo dated July 22, 2016, the below activities require registering with ITAR and paying the fee of 2250.00 as they “… meet the ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of “manufacturing” and, therefore, constitute “manufacturing” for ITAR purposes:”

I could of course be wrong, but it seems to me that "for ITAR purposes" means that the regulations only refer to international traffic in arms. The State Department is facilitating the enforcement of an international agreement, not changing the rules for domestic gunsmithing, over which it has no jurisdiction.

Even if the regulations apply as I interpret them, I may be in trouble, since I have several rifles currently being worked on by a gunsmith in Germany which I plan to import as soon as he is finished with them.

This is what "Homeland Security" looks like. Today, this is what free enterprise looks like. The amazing thing to me is that it has come about slowly enough that no one, apparently, saw it coming. Certainly few seemed to care.
Acceptance is based on the old "other trades and professions have it just as bad" reasoning.
I think all Canadians, especially Americans and veterans living in Canada, should feel insulted as the object of trade restrictions. For myself, I'm done. I've watched restrictions become more and more onerous over two Republican and two Democrat terms. The seeds were sown nearly twenty years ago and it wasn't long before todays bureaucracy took root. Ultimately, it will smother US manufacturing, already struggling, like a kudzu vine. Makes me sick. Regards, Bill

I understand why a lot of gunmakers here are going to pay. I don't blame anyone for making that decision. As for me, I'm not going to do it. I'll simply drop those services from the menu to avoid trouble. When the customer asks why, I'll tell them. Maybe then they'll bring a few more torches and pitchforks when the time comes to face the creature.

They have let me plenty to do that is still not considered manufacturing. I'll keep doing those things. And remain a pissed-off old misanthrope.

quote:

Originally posted by DZ:And now we have the gunpowder problem to add in...

Don't mean to change the subject of this thread, but what "gunpowder problem"?

Colorado Matt,

The fastest explanation is that it has been tabled for now so it will not have any bearing on reloading or loaded ammunition for now.

Here is the original article that was published as an announcement:

http://www.ammoland.com/2016/0...-laws/#axzz4JOF8MpXG

Regards.

quote:

Originally posted by srtrax:
I don't think John Kerry gives a rats ass about any custom gunsmiths. I do applaud the guild for starting this but I think we may be in the fight of our lives on this one.

Right you are. Any "legal action" will take a very long time to bear any fruit. Petitions will be even less effective, unless someone friendly to the cause takes the white house. The way to turn this around is to fire the radical, Anti-Americans who imposed it in the first place. You think they dont know EXACTLY what this has done to the Gunsmithing community? Think again! All gunsmiths have been deliberately screwed! And all gun owners! And the bastards wont stop until there is nothing left! Want to fight it? Dont let the Democrats win in November.

quote:

Originally posted by DZ:
Colorado Matt,

The fastest explanation is that it has been tabled for now so it will not have any bearing on reloading or loaded ammunition for now.

Here is the original article that was published as an announcement:

http://www.ammoland.com/2016/0...-laws/#axzz4JOF8MpXG

Regards.

Thanks for the clarification. That's a relief!

Apparently 24 senator's have ginned up a letter to the State Dept requesting that the action be rescinded. Is your senator on the list? Full text with signatures is available on Senator Cotton's Web site.

https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=476