THE GUN PARTS BUSINESS

CBP Seizes 52,000 Firearm Parts Illegally Imported From China At Los Angeles, Long Beach Port

LAPPL News Watch
August 26, 2019

Federal officials say they’ve seized more than 52,000 firearm parts that arrived illegally from China at the Los Angeles and Long Beach port. The parts — sights, stocks, muzzles, buffer kits and grips — arrived in three shipments and had a combined value of more than $378,000, US Customs and Border Protection said Thursday in a news release.

The parts arrived over a period of three months and were bound for a legitimate US-based gun parts seller and distributor, agency spokesman Jaime Ruiz told CNN.

The United States restricts imports from countries with which it has an arms embargo, including China. The US imposed an arms embargo after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

“This seizure is an exceptional example of CBP officers and import specialists vigilance, commitment and keen focus in enforcing complex arms embargo regulations,” Carlos C. Martel, the CBP’s director of field operations in Los Angeles, said.
__________

Under Regulators’ Noses, An Online Market For Homemade Gun Silencers Is Booming

SD Tactical Arms calls them barrel shrouds. Hawk Innovative Tech says they’re solvent filters. Prepper’s Discount sells flashlight tubes. But with a few hours and a little elbow grease, all of these products become the same thing: gun silencers.

Silencers, otherwise known as suppressors, are among the most highly regulated gun accessories in the U.S. Under federal law, consumers must apply for a license to purchase them. The process involves paying a fee to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and submitting to extensive screening.

It can take more than a year to get an answer. Americans eager to skip the wait, though, have a shortcut: tap one of the dozens of online retailers selling de facto suppressor parts and build their own.

Even a search for “solvent traps” on Amazon returns a page of unrelated items useful in silencer construction, such as automobile fuel filters. A spokesperson from Amazon refused to comment for this story, but emphasized that all the products sold on the site were legal.