Firecracker regs
The ATF, having solved all of those pesky problems with running guns to Mexico, has decided to crack down on seal bombs. These are apparently firecrackers that fishermen use to scare seals and birds away from their fishing lines. Seriously:
Fishermen were warned that as of May 1, the ATF would enforce a federal law that requires anyone using a seal bomb or bird bomb — a noisemaker widely used in California to keep marine mammals at bay, protect vineyards and other crops, and keep seagulls off landfills — to go through a background check and obtain a special permit.
The animal “bombs” vary in design but generally resemble M-80 firecrackers that are shot out of a gun. They are designed to frighten a bird or sea mammal but not hurt them. Because they can contain flash powder, the ATF considers them “high explosives” that can cause serious harm if they were to fall into the wrong hands.
“You don’t just let any kid on the street use them,” said Helen Dunkel, a spokeswoman for ATF’s San Francisco division. “There’s too many opportunities for unlawful users to buy them, and there’s no paper trail for that.”
Eye on the prize, I guess. And:
As May approached, a rumor spread around Bay Area docks that seal bombs were now illegal and that ATF agents would be boarding their boats to seize the guns.
“We aren’t going to start rounding up people and seizing these things,” Dunkel said.
I feel safer knowing that you will rid the world of the scourge of unauthorized and unregistered firecrackers.
May 9th, 2011 at 9:44 am
First, they came for the model rocket enthusiasts, but I said nothing, for I did not have a model rocket…
May 9th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Hey, you think we’re going to go after street gangs or Mexican drug cartels? Are you mad?! Those people SHOOT BACK!
No, no: much safer to go after fishermen and small farmers. They can be easily cowed into submission with a gun and a badge.
It’s a win-win for all: we get to live on the public teat for yet another day, the public feeeeeeels safe, Congress thinks we’re tackling crime, and our budget gets upped. See? Everyone’s happy….
May 9th, 2011 at 9:56 am
“You gonna talk, or you gonna fish?”
May 9th, 2011 at 9:57 am
Similarly,they have cracked down on “Bird bangers” too
http://gunmart.blogspot.com/2011/05/bird-banger.html
May 9th, 2011 at 10:04 am
Reading this made me pop a cork, and I was immediately jailed.
May 9th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Crom help us, are they going to be carrying Decibel Meters and Gas Detectors just in case I expel my used Chili Vapors from my rear? That stuff can explode, you know. Just ask any Boy Scout.
May 9th, 2011 at 11:55 am
Does this mean that the unattended bird-bomb robo-guns at the airports mow must be manned 24/7 or removed? So we have a better likelihood of losing more aircraft to bird strike damage?
Time to get behind JPFO’s “Defund the BATFE” movement, I guess.
May 9th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Two words: Carbide Cannon
May 9th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
From the article: The permit requirements have been in effect since the Safe Explosives Act of 2002, but sellers weren’t checking for permits and the ATF wasn’t tracing them, Dunkel said.
Well, we always claim to be in favor of “enforcing existing laws”, to stop criminals, don’t we?
(Indeed, the link also says they were used for various illegal things nigh a dozen times over the last year, which is a nice low number… but less so when you consider the significantly smaller market for ’em.
Isn’t it their job to enforce the nation’s explosives laws, especially when they start getting criminals perhaps using their lax enforcement to Do Mayhem?)
If the law’s stupid, call for it to be repealed or amended, I say.
The ATF does lots of wrong, but mostly by inventing regulations from whole cloth or trying to do things they have no authority to do. Also from poorly drafter laws, like the National Firearms Act.
This time, though, it just looks like they’re doing their properly constituted job – complaints are due to Congress on this one.
May 9th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Have to go with Sigivald on this one; and in general.
The BATFE doesn’t have to be as hard-nosed and arbitrary as it does, but even a much friendlier BATFE would still be limited due to the requirement of enforcing stupid laws.
May 9th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Can’t have just anyone scaring fauna with firecrackers, but we must allow sadists in costumes to shoot flash-bangs into houses they know have kids inside:
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/05/death-of-aiyana-jones-showtime-syndrome.html
May 9th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
So fishermen will just used regular M80s and sling shots, right?
Silly regulations invoke transparent evasions.
May 9th, 2011 at 11:57 pm
SF harbors are overrun with goddam seals, they’re not endangered in any way and are foul and noisy and obnoxious and stupid – not cuddly – and should be shot on sight. They crap everywhere and are probably responsible for more water-born disease in the Bay than anything else, including toxic runoff. The law protecting them is outright stupidity and sheer animal-enviro-eco pandering. The creatures are a foul and stinky nuisance.
May 10th, 2011 at 1:38 am
Oh, Good Lord! I remember Schmucky Schumer and the ATF going after the model rocketeers, a few years ago. Does Charles Schumer have a direct telepathic line from his brain to Satan’s? I think that’s the only way to explain his behavior.
May 10th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
The model rocketeers got out from under the BATFE by replacing black powder with blue dot for separation charges.
I can see “bird bombs” going the same route.