Outdoor Life by John Haughey February 14, 2017
A Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “white paper” correctly identifies “assault weapons” as a politically contrived term with no real meaning and recommends dramatic federal law revisions in how they are regulated.
Authored by ATF second-in-command Ronald Turk, the “white paper” also supports the proposed “Hearing Protection Act,” which would eliminate firearm suppressor regulations that costs the agency more than $1 million a year in overtime pay and occupy the time of 30 full-time employees despite a “lack of criminality.”
Turk’s “white paper” says the agency is interested in reforms that “promote commerce and defend the Second Amendment without significant negative impact on ATF’s mission to fight violent firearms crime and regulate the firearms industry.”
Turk wrote that the misleading “assault weapons” term to describe AK-and-AR-style rifles should be replaced with a “modern sporting rifles,” to reflect how the use and popularity of these firearms has grown. In fact, he noted, their use in “sport shooting” has grown “exponentially” and such guns “are now standard for hunting activities.”
The ATF official also argued in favor of changes in policy for the import of WWII-era military weapons, such as M1 Garand rifles.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/gun-news-week-atf-says-assault-rifle-is-bogus-term
