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On Friday, July 22, just as members of his party were gathering in Philadelphia to coronate Hillary Clinton as their presidential nominee, the Obama Administration once again released a sweeping gun control measure by executive fiat. This time the bad news came via the U.S. State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), which is primarily responsible for administering the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing rules, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The upshot is that DDTC is labeling commercial gunsmiths as “manufacturers†for performing relatively simple work such as threading a barrel or fabricating a small custom part for an older firearm. Under the AECA, “manufactures†are required to register with DDTC at significant expense or risk onerous criminal penalties.
The AECA/ITAR require anybody who engages in the business of “manufacturing†a defense article to register with DDTC and pay a registration fee that for new applicants is currently $2,250 per year. These requirements apply, even if the business does not, and does not intend to, export any defense article. Moreover, under ITAR, “only one occasion of manufacturing … a defense article†is necessary for a commercial entity to be considered “engaged in the business†and therefore subject to the regime’s requirements.
http://controversialtimes.com/news/...ecutive-order-puts-gunsmiths-out-of-business/DTC’s new “guidance†only makes this situation worse by coming up with a confusing and counterintuitive list of activities that it considers “gunsmithing†versus “manufacturing†(despite the fact that it insists it relies on the “ordinary, contemporary, common meaning†of those terms).
