This USA today story has been repeated as evidence of various things. But is it actually evidence people are buying that many more guns?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/atf-guns-registration/8115273/
https://www.metabunk.org/attachments/eforms-letter-4-16-14-final-pdf.7060/
http://www.atf.gov/statistics/index.html
More and more forms are processed - but is that due to more guns? The first graph shows a big dip from 2008 to 2010, but the second graph does not.
The USA Today story suggests it's a surge in production, not in sales. The memo suggests it's a change in the law. The scare stories suggest it's people stocking up for civil unrest.
Can anyone clarify?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/atf-guns-registration/8115273/
The memo says:
WASHINGTON — A record surge in recent firearms production and transactions have swamped the federal government's automated registration system for select weapons, including machine guns.
In a notice earlier this month to the firearms industry, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was temporarily suspending parts of its computerized system to shore up capacity in part to process the required registration and transfer of National Firearms Act covered weapons, which also include silencers, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles and some explosive devices.
Between 2005 and 2013, firearms act-related applications "skyrocketed by more than 380%'' to nearly 200,000, according to the April 16 memo issued by ATF Deputy Assistant Director Marvin Richardson. The surge has contributed to a backlog of more than 70,000 applications.
https://www.metabunk.org/attachments/eforms-letter-4-16-14-final-pdf.7060/
So is this an increase in guns being bought? Or mostly from changes in the law?
As a result of recent changes in state laws concerning certain National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms and devices and other factors, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has experienced an exponential increase in NFA applications in recent years and months. For example, in fiscal year 2005, while ATF processed nearly 41,600 NFA applications, by 2013 that number had skyrocketed by more than 380 percent to more than 199,900 applications. The increase is significant because of the volume as well as the short period of time in which applications have spiked.
http://www.atf.gov/statistics/index.html
More and more forms are processed - but is that due to more guns? The first graph shows a big dip from 2008 to 2010, but the second graph does not.
The USA Today story suggests it's a surge in production, not in sales. The memo suggests it's a change in the law. The scare stories suggest it's people stocking up for civil unrest.
Can anyone clarify?