The harmony between the ATF and the Taliban is discomfiting.
Contrast this news from the American Rifleman:
In June, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make nearly all firearms configured with a pistol stabilizing brace subject to the National Firearms Act, requiring taxation and registration of millions of lawfully acquired firearms. The proposal represents a dramatic shift in ATF treatment of pistol-stabilizing braces.
With this tweet from the Taliban’s spokesman (as translated by Twitter):
In Kabul, all those who have the means, weapons, ammunition and other government goods are informed to hand over the mentioned objects to the relevant organs of the Islamic Emirate within a week.
Jack Phillips, of Epoch Times, translates the tweet as implying “government-issued” weapons, but I’m not so sure it isn’t asserting that all weapons are government property. Either way, confiscating weapons is a lot easier when there’s a list.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it sounds like a party. I once knew an ATF agent, he brought all of the good stuff recovered home. I once had a number of collectible guns stolen. Like a good doobie I reported it to the police. I was naïve enough to ask if there was any likelihood that they would be recovered. After looking over my list, the reply, “If any cop finds guns like this you’ll never see them”