http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...s-nfa-firearms

ATF classifies Chore Boy pot scrubber pads NFA firearms
David Codrea
November 15, 2011

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Firearms Technology Branch has deemed “Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation,” a firearm, subject to registration and a $200 transfer tax, an official letter obtained recently by Gun Rights Examiner reveals. The response to an attorney inquiry by John R. Spencer, Chief, Firearms Technology Branch, offers one of the more creatively restrictive assessments since ATF declared a shoestring to be a machinegun.

http://jpfo.org/images02/shoestring.jpg

The rationale Spencer uses:

A silencer is a firearm per U.S. Code, subject to National Firearms Act registration and transfer tax requirements.

“[S]ound/gas absorbing materials manufactured from Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation, constitute a silencer…”

Therefore, it is illegal for an individual to replace deteriorated material within an already- registered suppressor without an approved ATF Form 1, http://www.atf.gov/forms/download/atf-f-5320-1.pdf ‘Application to Make and Register a Firearm,’” along with a “$200.00 making tax” and “a ‘no-marking’ variance…since there is no viable area in which to apply a serial number to the sound-absorbing material.”

And further, an otherwise-lawful owner of a registered silencer probably ought to find something else to clean pots and pans with, as possession of an unspecified quantity of Chore Boy cleaning pads could be considered a “stockpile.”

The letter is presented in the slideshow accompanying this column. http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...slide=39806571 The name and address of the recipient attorney has been blacked out because his office was not the source providing the letter to Gun Rights Examiner.