ATF bans Copper Chore Boy scrubbers...?

ATF Classifies Chore Boy Pot Scrubber Pads NFA Firearms | Gun Digest - The World's Foremost Gun Information Authority

Read it and weep. Until someone assures me this is some kind of a hoax, I am going to remain in my current state of shock on what we continue to allow to happen.

Using the ATFE's logic they will next be banning empty 2 liter plastic bottles, throw pillows, duct tape and putting anyone who watches Burn Notice on their 'list'.

Uh, oh- gotta go. I think there is a black stealth helicopter hovering over my house now........

Fiberglass insulation, too! My walls and ceiling are absolutely packed with that stuff, a veritable stockpile of unregistered NFA stuff!

Welcome to the New America. Common sense not encouraged, seldom tolerated, and soon to be outlawed completely.

Sounds like we can thank those who defy the law for a common product now being made verboten. About the same as what's happened with the sale of pseudoephedrine being restricted to only from locked cabinets or behind the counter because of abuse by meth abusers. Sounds like if you want to keep using Choreboy to clean barrels, etc., you'd better run down to the local grocery store and stock up.

steamloco76 said:

Using the ATFE's logic they will next be banning empty 2 liter plastic bottles, throw pillows, duct tape and putting anyone who watches Burn Notice on their 'list'.

Uh, oh- gotta go. I think there is a black stealth helicopter hovering over my house now........

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I think it's about time our government steps up and bans throw pillows.
Knickknacks, in general, should be banned!

“ound/gas absorbing materials manufactured from Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation, constitute a silencer…” is the operative sentence in the article from which the author's premise flows. I'd like to read the complete sentence before passing judgment.
The way I read the article is that if you use chore boy pads and fiberglass to make or repair a silencer, then these are component parts to a silencer and therefore must bt registered. Here is another sentence selectively edited by me
"Carbon constitutes a firearm..." The rest of the sentence reads "..when combined with iron that makes steel that is forged into a revolver frame which is mated with internal parts and a barrel to make a revolver."

People, I don't like the ATF as much as the next guy and agree that their regulations are sometimes.....bizzare, but this alarmist claptrap is very destructive and makes us look like idiots to the non gun public.
Hate to put a damper on what had promise to be a GREAT conspiracy thread.

As if the idea wasn't vague and stupid enough on its own, there's this clause.........."possession of an unspecified quantity of Chore Boy cleaning pads could be considered a “stockpile.”"

An unspecified quantity? Which means basically ANY AND ALL, if they deem it so. Regardless of what you "plan" to use it for.............like cleaning dirty pans.

It's time to abolish the BATFE, and throw these clowns out on their ears. Every time I think I've heard the stupidest thing ever, some nitwit with a government paycheck ten times what mine is comes up with more idiocy like this!

brucev said:

Sounds like we can thank those who defy the law for a common product now being made verboten. About the same as what's happened with the sale of pseudoephedrine being restricted to only from locked cabinets or behind the counter because of abuse by meth abusers. Sounds like if you want to keep using Choreboy to clean barrels, etc., you'd better run down to the local grocery store and stock up.

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NO! We can blame the BATFE for making BS changes in US law.
Blaming people who misuse it is nonsense. When one commits a crime, they are a criminal, and what they use to do so means NOTHING...

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Let's move on.

Our Attorney has spoken.

As I read it, it is only if you have a silencer permit/license and use them to repair or make a silencer.

The DEA should have banned the stainless versions also as the Crack/Meth heads use them for screens in their pipes.

PSSSSSST! Hey! I got some "PRE-BAN" Chore Boys. I'll make you a deal...

Dont tell the BATFE but you can use certain motorcycle silencers on a gun.

Anybody check to see if this story originally appeared in The Onion? I assumed it was satire, playing on that cohort of gun owners who find conspirators lurking behind every fireplug and lamppost, and who are quick to adopt Chicken Little responses to rumors and baseless speculation. Not to worry --- if this turns out to be factual, we can always hide the cast iron cookware, buried in the basement floor or etc., along with the Chore Boy scrubbers, only to be brought out for surreptitious use on special occasions. Kitchens can be equipped with Teflon coated aluminum utensils to minimize suspicion.

But, in case I'm mistaken, does anybody know for sure if this also applies to those stainless steel potscrubber thingies?

This is as big as I can get them. If anyone can make them easier to read then it's all there to see in the ATF's black and white:

Maximumbob54 said:

So I remain confused.

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Do you own a suppressor? (you do not need to answer that) but if you don't then whats the problem??

I have insulation in my attic, is that a stockpile???

I agree the whole thing is stupid.

The other thing that I get from this is if you have a silencer and try to repair it, then you are considered to be a manufacturer and must get a license for that also.

Spare parts of a silencer are considered a silencer. You may not keep spare parts laying around. If you have built a suppressor (AKA silencer) on a form 1 you can only make replacement parts as needed. This is nothing new. Also anything used to suppress the noise of a firearm is a silencer. It doesn't have to be particularly efficient. If it lowers the sound level by one db. it's regulated by the national Firearms Act of 1934. It doesn't matter if it is a soda pop bottle, a potato or whatever it is, it becomes a silencer if it is attached to the muzzle or a firearm. That isn't a new thing either though.

Personally, I have several suppressors (known to the ATF as silencers) and none of them have any copper mesh or anything of the sort in them. That is so old school, because it needs a lot of maintenance to maintain any degree of efficiency at all. No chore boy pads or pipe insulation in mine to will ever need replacement.

This post is strictly for information purposes only and not intended to interfere with panic, hysteria or nail biting by those so inclined

NKJ nut said:

Spare parts of a silencer are considered a silencer. You may not keep spare parts laying around. If you have built a suppressor (AKA silencer) on a form 1 you can only make replacement parts as needed. This is nothing new. Also anything used to suppress the noise of a firearm is a silencer. It doesn't have to be particularly efficient. If it lowers the sound level by one db. it's regulated by the national Firearms Act of 1934. It doesn't matter if it is a soda pop bottle, a potato or whatever it is, it becomes a silencer if it is attached to the muzzle or a firearm. That isn't a new thing either though.

Personally, I have several suppressors (known to the ATF as silencers) and none of them have any copper mesh or anything of the sort in them. That is so old school, because it needs a lot of maintenance to maintain any degree of efficiency at all. No chore boy pads or pipe insulation in mine to will ever need replacement.

This post is strictly for information purposes only and not intended to interfere with panic, hysteria or nail biting by those so inclined

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And this is why I bring up the use of a wet suppressor. The water dries out after a while and the noise level goes up. So I have always thought of the suppressors that use any material that degrades as just having to be in effect refilled with whatever they used. Sure, they are low tech, and the cost is usually reflected in that type of a build. I don’t want to start a Hi Point vs. Heckler and Koch type debate, but I find this to be the same type issue. So the ATF has for all intensive purposes banned a entry level cost device for the sake of labeling a wear replacement part as now being a controlled item. And I keep rattling on about water because using that same logic of “If it lowers the sound level by one db. it's regulated by the national Firearms Act of 1934”, then how does one define the water? There is a pretty nice drop in dB when you add the water, so that same logic would dictate the same ruling. And, “it becomes a silencer if it is attached to the muzzle or a firearm. That isn't a new thing either though.” No, it isn’t. And that same logic is why everyone has gone with wearable baffling material has never been thought of as a “part” since it isn’t attached. The baffling is as attached to the suppressor as the lubrication is attached to the gun. That may not be the best analogy, but the point is that they both need to be inspected and replaced with use.

If anything about suppressors were to make since in a “label them as firearms” type manner, they should be treated the same way a serialized receiver on a gun is treated. For example: stamp the serial into the main body of the tube and ignore the rest of it. The tube is the integral part of the whole device the same way the receiver is the integral part of the gun. But we aren’t working with simple logic, we are working with the ATF who wants to regulate scrubbing pads. So I see a piece of paper like this and far too often a simple piece of paper can suddenly become grounds used against you in a court of law. And that is why I am making such a big deal out of this.

"This post is strictly for information purposes only"


I agree. I'm merely trying to expound on why this is a bigger deal than many people might think. It’s too easy to take something at a glance and miss the details.

And despite the fact that I don’t own one… I still care because I still want the freedom and liberty to one day own one. This negates the entry level pricing of attaining a suppressor. That is the same logic as how many anti 2nd gun grabbers would like to ban low cost guns as being inferior and therefore should be banned. And if anyone then wants to move to the position of a suppressor is not integral to the firearm and therefore is not anything to do with the Second Amendment, then I submit to you the same argument already turned against us on limiting capacity of magazines, regulating the dimensions of the various types of firearms, banning the ability of civilian ownership of select fire weapons, and even the Assault Weapons Ban line items have and are still used against us to this day. They may not keep a gun from being in your hand, but they keep only certain guns in your hands while our “Of the people, by the people, and for the people” leadership is rationalized to get whatever they need to keep the peace. So please make no mistake. This is another liberty being slowly taken away. At the heart of all this is the reality that regulations regulate the already law abiding, while the law breaking will continue since making a suppressor isn’t rocket science. That is as much as I can explain this without breaking out my soapbox and getting political.

If any Mod so desires, I probably should have put this in the 2nd Amendment section as it pertains more to that section at this point that just an FYI as I intended in the Lounge.

I would like to thank the ATF for letting criminals and terrorists know what they can use to pack their homemade silencers with... Geeezz