"Farmers now required to have a license for 'bird bangers'"
Brad Klingele would trust his 13-year-old son to use his bird-scaring gun in the cherry orchard.
But to pack the noise-making gun, which looks more like a toy, Klingele will have to get a federal license and provide his fingerprints and photo identification.
To keep explosives out of the "wrong hands," the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now requiring farmers who use them to get a license.
ATF gave the contraptions an acronym -- EPCD, for explosive pest control devices -- though farmers typically call them bird bangers, shell crackers or other variations of trade names.
Whatever they're called, many who use the guns to protect their fruit are not happy about the additional regulation.
"It's a joke," said Joe Perry, CEO of Wilson Orchard and Vineyard Supply in Yakima. "You can quote me on that if you want."
The regulation also requires a criminal background check and mandates that users keep the gunpowder-packed cartridges locked inside a flame-proof vault, where they must be signed out for every use. Penalties for violating what is a federal law are as high as 10 years in prison.
Retailers have had to comply with the regulations since 2002, when Congress passed the Safe Explosives Act. Technically, end-users such as farmers have had to comply, too, but the ATF has not enforced it.
That is supposed to change today, although it's unclear exactly how the regulation will be enforced.
The agency sent out a letter in November to all current license holders, such as distributors and retailers, to remind them of the rules and the enforcement deadline.
ATF officials said the bird-scarers are not always as harmless as they seem. The U.S. Bomb Data Center reported 11 criminal incidents involving pest control devices in 2009.
"ATF must weigh the potential threat to public safety from illicit storage and use of these devices against the needs of legitimate end users. Items that may appear harmless cease to be so in the wrong hands," said Scot Thomasson, chief of the ATF Public Affairs Division.
10 comments:
Crack downs are a coming...
I would say it's time for growers to adopt an alternative measure rather than submit to registration. Also, they should be protesting wildly to every lawmaker they can find to bend an ear.
Is it now easier to just carry a pistol with blanks? Even if you have to make up the blanks yourself? A pistol can be purchased by private sale and can be carried on one's own property without a permit...
Specifically it is charley sierra AKA poultry poop.
Why am I not surprised? Looks (to my untrained eye) like a 410 gauge blank. Is it POSSIBLE to buy 410 gauge blanks?
Just wondering, if "Items that may appear harmless cease to be so in the wrong hands," then what about items that scare some people spitless? Reckon when they'll get around to regulating the number of rounds we can have on hand at any one time?
Can the end be so far away?
Bad Cyborg X
P.S. the security word is ilickfig. Sounds like one of Carlin's words that COULD be obscene like "beer nuts" or "cotton balls". ;-)
Anon: I BELIEVE the issue is that the bird-bombs fly a ways before they pop -- like a "whizz-banger" bottle-rocket.
Meanwhile, one can still buy said bottle-rockets -- at least in some states...
What frigging idiots...
I wonder what would happen if I loaded some firecrackers in a shotgun shell...
D'ya think the powder would light the fuses?
Surely one could drill a hole through the wad and shoot a "cherry bomb" with a light powder load -- right?
Given that these devices are not serialized, just how do the BATFags intent to enforce their ruling? Nor is the "ammo" serialized. I know this because I use to work at a gun store and we had them coming through the store.
American's have looked at the place where Great Britain used to be and thought it could never happen to them.
Registration leads to...
...and unintended consequences.
ps, with Bin Lidden dead, the "War on Freedom" is won, right? so all of these stupid restrictions can be done away with, like now, right?
Of course, one could buy an ATFoo approved pistol grip 12ga shotgun and bird scarer 12 gauge loads and tell them to get screwed.
Under Bush..... Hmmmmmm....
Tom - the problem with your idea is that the mfg. of those 12ga shellcrackers all ready requires ID and sign statement to buy them.
Yep! And when was the last time a terrorist ever used a bird bomb for anything??? What is next, safe and sane fireworks? This country is sure spiralling down the old liberal porcelain love bowl quicker than ever before... Thanks, Democrats!
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