Re: ATF regulations.

David Weinshenker wrote:

> Jerry Durand wrote:
> 
>>At 06:05 PM 10/12/2004, Randall Clague wrote:
>>
>>>At 03:33 PM 10/12/2004 -0700, Jerry Durand wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>the BATFE "Orange Book" even specifically defines car airbag actuators as
>>>>controlled explosives, requiring that your car be kept in a magazine
>>>
>>>Surely individual car owners are exempt if the airbag actuator is in the
>>>car and has not been tampered with.
>>
>>Surely you'd think so, but the rules do NOT state any exemption (if you
>>ask, they'll say "you know what we mean", but the judge would go by the
>>written rules).  Therefore you need an explosives permit (federal and
>>state) to own the car, a HazMat license to drive it, and a type-4 magazine
>>to store it in.  Also, anyone under 18, not a US citizen, or ever convicted
>>of a crime with a 1 year sentence can not be allowed anywhere near it.
> 
> 
> One would think that an airbag actuator would fall within the definition 
> of a "propellent actuated device" ("specialized mechanical device or gas 
> generator system that releases or directs work by means of a propellant 
> charge"), and as such would be exempt from 27 CFR part 555 "Commerce in 
> Explosives" by the action of the exemption at 27 CFR 555.141(a)(8): given 
> the existence of that regulatory language (which was unchanged, except for 
> a section renumbering, by the "safe explosives act"), I'd say there would 
> be a formidable "reasonable doubt" barrier between the American motoring 
> public and any legally-sustainable charge of "Using Unlicensed Explosives"! 

I'd go farther by saying that one of two things would happen if they 
tried to push a case in which someone was arrested for "possesion of 
explosives" over an airbag system still in the car: either it would be 
laughed out of court by the judge, envisioning 100 million future 
arrests, or it would result in a couple million protesters lining up at 
FBI offices nationwide, demanding they be arrested for possessing airbag 
equipped cars -- and no, they don't want to make bail, they want to stay 
in jail until trial, and where exactly *will* you put the all those 
other people waiting to be processed, anyway??

The Safe Explosives Act would probably be struck down within hours of 
the first such arrest, one way or the other...

Nope, I can't be a test case -- my fifteen-year-old van doesn't have air 
bags...

-- 
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
                                                     -- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
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Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.