Well.. that just happened. ATF classification ruling that ArmBrace = SBR

[LRRPF52]

I learned a bit more about Congressman Harold Knutson who created this whole mess specific to SBRs.

In 1924, he was caught and arrested for sodomy with a man named Leroy M. Hull.

Police found him in a parked car on the side of the road in Arlington, Virginia, with Labor Department employee Leroy M. Hull and arrested him on a “grave moral offense”. Knutson tried to bribe the officers with $100, but was indicted. This “grave moral offense” was probably sodomy, but a jury ultimately acquitted him after Congressional colleagues testified as character witnesses. Homosexuality was regarded as an unspeakable matter in 1924 (“don’t ask, don’t tell” comes to mind) and this incident may have given him some problems in his reelection bid, as his race was closer than in 1922. Nonetheless, Knutson survived.

(FBI Director Hoover was big on sexual blackmail, and was a homosexual himself living quite openly with Clyde Tolson, the Assistant FBI Director. It’s interesting that Hoover claimed that the Mafia was just a myth, an urban legend in people’s minds that didn’t exist.)

Congressman Knutson’s history is intriguing because he got elected into the same seat in the House that was formerly held by Charles Lindberg Sr.

We know Knutson because of his unnecessary suggestion that rifles be added to the NFA, even when the AG told him rifles weren’t mentioned, so no need to be concerned about them being affected.

He was also found to be a Nazi sympathizer and asset during WWII, after a review of Nazi records showed this many years later.




Mr. KNUTSON: General, would there be any objection, on page 1, line 4, after the word” shotgun” to add the words” or rifle” having a barrel less than 18 inches? The reason I ask that is I happen to come from a section of the State where deer hunting is a very popular pastime in the fall of the year and, of course, I would not like to pass any legislation to forbid or make it impossible for our people to keep arms that would permit them to hunt deer.

Attorney General CUMMINGS: Well, as long as it is not mentioned at all, it would not interfere at all.

Mr. KNUTSON: It seems to me that an 18 -inch barrel would make this provision stronger than 16 inches, knowing what I do about firearms.

Attorney General CUMMINGS: Well, there is no objection as far as we are concerned to including rifles after the word” shotguns” if you desire.