Privacy: Being Less Exposed On The Internet

These are two ways to keep anyone from seeing or being able to track your e-mail communications. Know that I’m not giving any bad guys new ideas. These have been used by the bad guys already. Now good guys can use them.

Two people open 30 anonymous e-mail accounts with 30 different passwords. On the 1st of the month the first e-mail account is used, on the 2nd the second account is used and so on, until each account is used. This is very difficult to catch because there is no pattern of use. It’s very hard to monitor single use accounts.

Another method is to open an e-mail account and write a message but don’t send it. The other person can open the same account and read the message in Drafts and then delete it.
The e-mail has never been sent, and cannot be tracked.

Other Tips

E-mails sent from public computers like coffee houses and libraries make tracking e-mail even more difficult. Using language that doesn’t actually mention names of people or places has been in use ever since communication has been used.

Most of the following info is from Privacy.com
https://privacy.net/stay-anonymous-online/

February 19, 2018 By Dennis Anon

Use TOR. First and foremost, Tor Browser isn’t connected directly to the World Wide Web. All internet traffic, both incoming and outgoing, first goes through the Tor Network. An amazing grassroots achievement in its own right, the Tor Network is made up of thousands of relays, called nodes, located all over the world. All of these relays are operated by volunteers who support the Tor Project and keep it open to everyone, free of charge.
Every time I visit to a website, all the data that gets uploaded and downloaded in the process is encrypted and sent through a random sequence of nodes, making it next to impossible to trace back to my computer. This process is called onion routing, from which Tor’s name is derived The Onion Router.
Bridge
The most recent upgrade to Tor Browser made using and troubleshooting bridges much easier. To set up a Tor Bridge, do the following:
• Click the onion icon with a drop-down menu next to the URL bar
• Select Tor Network Settings
• Check “Tor is censored in my country” box
• Assuming you don’t have a particular bridge in mind, keep the default option to Select a built-in bridge
• Click the dropdown and select obsf4. You can try the other types if obsf4 doesn’t work
• Click OK
You are now connected to Tor through a bridge! Note that even if your connection isn’t blocked, your ISP might still know about the bridge you’re using.
Search Privately

Google’s business model depends on collecting as much information about its users as possible, and a big part of that includes keeping track of who searches for what. So long as you’re in the Tor browser, Google shouldn’t be able to identify you, but just in case, the Tor browser’s search bar uses DuckDuckGo instead of Google.
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that emphasizes privacy. It doesn’t gather data about who uses it or what they search for. It’s fully independent and the search results are usually the same as what you’d find on Google.

More Secure E-Mail

Mailinator can only receive email, not send it. It’s most useful for anonymously signing up for stuff. You can invent any email address you want so long as it ends with “@mailinator.com”. You don’t have to create the account in advance, and no registration is necessary. Let’s say you need an email address to create a bitcoin wallet. You could sign up using the email address sendbitcoinhere@mailinator.com. Then you can go to Mailinator and check that inbox to verify the account. All emails are part of the public record and deleted after roughly eight hours.
Reminder: Only access Mailinator from the Tor browser, otherwise the site could log your IP address or add a tracking cookie to your browser. You will have to deal with some annoying CAPTCHAs, but that’s the price of anonymity. (CAPTCHA is a verification you are human)

Guerilla Mail works in much the same way as Mailinator, but you can send and receive email. A randomized email address is created for you as soon as you open the site, and you can change it whenever you like. The email addresses are permanent, but the emails themselves are deleted after about an hour. For two-way communications, this is my preferred tool.

To be honest, for a determined, talented, or well financed organization, tracking you or finding who you are will happen. Most governments don’t need to spend the time and capitol it would take to break through some of these safeguards. If you want to be anonymous, stay off the internet. But these ideas will help you to be a little less exposed.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

Privacy And What Not To Say On The Internet

Believe it or not, you are being watched.
The Department of Homeland Security released a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S. This ‘hotlist’ is really no surprise… they’re just the ones to get caught.
What wasn't disclosed is how the agency actually gains access to the various search engines and social networks to monitor the specified keywords.
Here is the list but it was released in 2011. I imagine it has changed and/or been added to since then.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Coast Guard (USCG)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Border Patrol
Secret Service (USSS)
National Operations Center (NOC)
Homeland Defense
Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Agent
Task Force
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Fusion Center
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Secure Border Initiative (SBI)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS)
Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Air Marshal
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
National Guard
Red Cross
United Nations (UN)
Assassination
Attack
Domestic security
Drill
Exercise
Cops
Law enforcement
Authorities
Disaster assistance
Disaster management
DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office)
National preparedness
Mitigation
Prevention
Response
Recovery
Dirty bomb
Domestic nuclear detection
Emergency management
Emergency response
First responder
Homeland security
Maritime domain awareness (MDA)
National preparedness initiative
Militia Shooting
Shots fired
Evacuation
Deaths
Hostage
Explosion (explosive)
Police
Disaster medical assistance team (DMAT)
Organized crime
Gangs
National security
State of emergency
Security
Breach
Threat
Standoff
SWAT
Screening
Lockdown
Bomb (squad or threat)
Crash
Looting
Riot
Emergency
Landing
Pipe bomb
Incident
Facility
Hazmat
Nuclear
Chemical spill
Suspicious package/device
Toxic
National laboratory
Nuclear facility
Nuclear threat
Cloud
Plume
Radiation
Radioactive
Leak
Biological infection (or event)
Chemical
Chemical burn
Biological
Epidemic
Hazardous
Hazardous material incident
Industrial spill
Infection
Powder (white)
Gas
Spillover
Anthrax
Blister agent
Chemical agent
Exposure
Burn
Nerve agent
Ricin
Sarin
North Korea
Outbreak
Contamination
Exposure
Virus
Evacuation
Bacteria
Recall
Ebola
Food Poisoning
Foot and Mouth (FMD)
H5N1
Avian
Flu
Salmonella
Small Pox
Plague
Human to human
Human to Animal
Influenza
Center for Disease Control (CDC)
Drug Administration (FDA)
Public Health
Toxic Agro
Terror Tuberculosis (TB)
Agriculture
Listeria
Symptoms
Mutation
Resistant
Antiviral
Wave
Pandemic
Infection
Water/air borne
Sick
Swine
Pork
Strain
Quarantine
H1N1
Vaccine
Tamiflu
Norvo Virus
Epidemic
World Health Organization (WHO) (and components)
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever
E. Coli
Infrastructure security
Airport
CIKR (Critical Infrastructure & Key Resources)
AMTRAK
Collapse
Computer infrastructure
Communications infrastructure
Telecommunications
Critical infrastructure
National infrastructure
Metro
WMATA
Airplane (and derivatives)
Chemical fire
Subway
BART
MARTA
Port Authority
NBIC (National Biosurveillance Integration Center)
Transportation security
Grid
Power
Smart
Body scanner
Electric
Failure or outage
Black out
Brown out
Port
Dock
Bridge
Cancelled
Delays
Service disruption
Power lines
Drug cartel
Violence
Gang
Drug
Narcotics
Cocaine
Marijuana
Heroin
Border
Mexico
Cartel
Southwest
Juarez
Sinaloa
Tijuana
Torreon
Yuma
Tucson
Decapitated
U.S. Consulate
Consular
El Paso
Fort Hancock
San Diego
Ciudad Juarez
Nogales
Sonora
Colombia
Mara salvatrucha
MS13 or MS-13
Drug war
Mexican army
Methamphetamine
Cartel de Golfo
Gulf Cartel
La Familia
Reynosa
Nuevo Leon
Narcos
Narco banners (Spanish equivalents)
Los Zetas
Shootout
Execution
Gunfight
Trafficking
Kidnap
Calderon
Reyosa
Bust
Tamaulipas
Meth Lab
Drug trade
Illegal immigrants
Smuggling (smugglers)
Matamoros
Michoacana
Guzman
Arellano-Felix
Beltran-Leyva
Barrio Azteca
Artistic Assassins
Mexicles
New Federation
Terrorism
Al Qaeda (all spellings)
Terror
Attack
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iran
Pakistan
Agro
Environmental terrorist
Eco terrorism
Conventional weapon
Target
Weapons grade
Dirty bomb
Enriched
Nuclear
Chemical weapon
Biological weapon
Ammonium nitrate
Improvised explosive device
IED (Improvised Explosive Device)
Abu Sayyaf
Hamas
FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia)
IRA (Irish Republican Army)
ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna)
Basque Separatists
Hezbollah
Tamil Tigers
PLF (Palestine Liberation Front)
PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization
Car bomb
Jihad
Taliban
Weapons cache
Suicide bomber
Suicide attack
Suspicious substance
AQAP (AL Qaeda Arabian Peninsula)
AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)
TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan)
Yemen
Pirates
Extremism
Somalia
Nigeria
Radicals
Al-Shabaab
Home grown
Plot
Nationalist
Recruitment
Fundamentalism
Islamist
Emergency
Hurricane
Tornado
Twister
Tsunami
Earthquake
Tremor
Flood
Storm
Crest
Temblor
Extreme weather
Forest fire
Brush fire
Ice
Stranded/Stuck
Help
Hail
Wildfire
Tsunami Warning Center
Magnitude
Avalanche
Typhoon
Shelter-in-place
Disaster
Snow
Blizzard
Sleet
Mud slide or Mudslide
Erosion
Power outage
Brown out
Warning
Watch
Lightening
Aid
Relief
Closure
Interstate
Burst
Emergency Broadcast System
Cyber security
Botnet
DDOS (dedicated denial of service)
Denial of service
Malware
Virus
Trojan
Keylogger
Cyber Command
2600
Spammer
Phishing
Rootkit
Phreaking
Cain and Abel
Brute forcing
Mysql injection
Cyber attack
Cyber terror
Hacker
China
Conficker
Worm
Scammers
Social media
If you want to avoid being monitored by our government and anyone else you need to create an “air gap” computer. It is exactly as it is described. There is air between a computer and an internet connection.
From “Wired” online: https://www.wired.com/2013/10/149481/
7 OCT 2013
By: Bruce Schneider
“Want to Evade NSA Spying? Don't Connect to the Internet
1. When you set up your computer, connect it to the internet as little as possible. It’s impossible to completely avoid connecting the computer to the internet, but try to configure it all at once and as anonymously as possible. I purchased my computer off-the-shelf in a big box store, then went to a friend's network and downloaded everything I needed in a single session. (The ultra-paranoid way to do this is to buy two identical computers, configure one using the above method, upload the results to a cloud-based anti-virus checker, and transfer the results of that to the air gap machine using a one-way process.)
2. Install the minimum software set you need to do your job, and disable all operating system services that you won’t need. The less software you install, the less an attacker has available to exploit. I downloaded and installed OpenOffice, a PDF reader, a text editor, TrueCrypt, and BleachBit. That's all. (No, I don't have any inside knowledge about TrueCrypt, and there's a lot about it that makes me suspicious. But for Windows full-disk encryption it's that, Microsoft's BitLocker, or Symantec's PGPDisk – and I am more worried about large U.S. corporations being pressured by the NSA than I am about TrueCrypt.)
3. Once you have your computer configured, never directly connect it to the internet again. Consider physically disabling the wireless capability, so it doesn’t get turned on by accident.
4. If you need to install new software, download it anonymously from a random network, put it on some removable media, and then manually transfer it to the air gapped computer. This is by no means perfect, but it’s an attempt to make it harder for the attacker to target your computer.
5. Turn off all auto-run features. This should be standard practice for all the computers you own, but it's especially important for an air-gapped computer. Agent.btz used autorun to infect U.S. military computers.
6. Minimize the amount of executable code you move onto the air-gapped computer. Text files are best. Microsoft Office files and PDFs are more dangerous, since they might have embedded macros. Turn off all macro capabilities you can on the air-gapped computer. Don't worry too much about patching your system; in general, the risk of the executable code is worse than the risk of not having your patches up to date. You're not on the internet, after all.
7. Only use trusted media to move files on and off air-gapped computers. A USB stick you purchase from a store is safer than one given to you by someone you don't know – or one you find in a parking lot.
8. For file transfer, a writable optical disk (CD or DVD) is safer than a USB stick. Malware can silently write data to a USB stick, but it can't spin the CD-R up to 1000 rpm without your noticing. This means that the malware can only write to the disk when you write to the disk. You can also verify how much data has been written to the CD by physically checking the back of it. If you've only written one file, but it looks like three-quarters of the CD was burned, you have a problem. Note: the first company to market a USB stick with a light that indicates a write operation – not read or write; I've got one of those – wins a prize.
9. When moving files on and off your air-gapped computer, use the absolute smallest storage device you can. And fill up the entire device with random files. If an air-gapped computer is compromised, the malware is going to try to sneak data off it using that media. While malware can easily hide stolen files from you, it can't break the laws of physics. So if you use a tiny transfer device, it can only steal a very small amount of data at a time. If you use a large device, it can take that much more. Business-card-sized mini-CDs can have capacity as low as 30 MB. I still see 1-GB USB sticks for sale.
10. Consider encrypting everything you move on and off the air-gapped computer. Sometimes you'll be moving public files and it won’t matter, but sometimes you won’t be, and it will. And if you're using optical media, those disks will be impossible to erase. Strong encryption solves these problems. And don't forget to encrypt the computer as well; whole-disk encryption is the best.
Yes, all this is advice for the paranoid. And it's probably impossible to enforce for any network more complicated than a single computer with a single user. But if you're thinking about setting up an air-gapped computer, you already believe that some very powerful attackers are after you personally. If you're going to use an air gap, use it properly.
Of course you can take things further. I have met people who have physically removed the camera, microphone, and wireless capability altogether. But that’s too much paranoia for me right now.”
I have worked for the government my entire adult life. I have worked on government networks and computers for 30 years. I remember pre-internet when we used to call the BBS (bulletin board) of another base and download files freely. No security, no passwords. Times have changed. I understand the need for security. But sometimes I wonder where it will end.
In my next post I’ll give a few ideas about how to be less tracked and more anonymous on the internet.
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

Thoughts On SERE and Survival Schools

Because of my Aircrew status I was required to go through SERE school (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) before I attained a certain rank. So I chose to go to SERE as soon as possible. I went right after jump school. It was amazing! It was pretty difficult but I was told by someone who had attended a year before that it is a big mental mind game. It was. And a physical one too. One of the first things they do is have you sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The NDA is so that no one will tell the world about what happens in SERE. Operational security. Also there’s insurance you have to have in case you get hurt so you won’t sue the government. What I want to talk about is things you can do to train like SERE without disclosing what actually happens. Each branch of the military has their own SERE school. They are not all exactly the same, but they are very close.
SERE School is a training program to teach military members, Department of Defense civilians and military contractors survival skills, training in evading capture and the military’s Code of Conduct.
1. Code of conduct applications in wartime, peacetime, governmental and/or hostage detention environments
2. General survival skills
3. Evasion planning
4. Resistance to exploitation & political indoctrination
5. Escape planning
To tell you the truth about this school, because there is a lot of fiction out there, we were mistreated in this school, but never tortured. There is always a medical team standing by in case someone can’t handle it.
Sere training is broken down into three levels.
Level-A is initial-entry-level training that all soldiers, enlisted and officers receive upon entering the service. It provides a minimum level of understanding of the Code of Conduct.
Level-B is designed for personnel whose “jobs, specialties or assignments entail moderate risk of capture and exploitation.” DoD 1300.21 lists as examples, “members of ground combat units, security forces for high threat targets and anyone in the immediate vicinity of the forward edge of the battle area or the forward line of troops.” Current combat operations have shown that practically everyone deployed in theater falls under this category. Consequently, demand for Level-B training has proliferated exponentially, and it has become mandatory for most deploying forces. Level-B is conducted at the unit level, through the use of training-support packets containing a series of standardized lesson plans and videos.
Level-C is designed for personnel whose “jobs, specialties or assignments entail a significant or high risk of capture and exploitation.” AR 350-30 supports DoD 1300.21’s mandate: “As a minimum, the following categories of personnel shall receive formal Level-C training at least once in their careers: combat aircrews, special operations forces (e.g., Navy special warfare combat swimmers and special boat units, Army Special Forces and Rangers, Marine Corps Special Operations and force reconnaissance units, Air Force special tactics teams, and psychological operations units) and military attaché.”
The SERE Level-C There are only five facilities within the DoD that is authorized to conduct Level-C training. The Air Force conducts training at Fairchild AFB, Wash., and the Navy has facilities in Brunswick, Maine, and at North Island, Calif. The Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., has their own another Level-C facility for aviation pilots in the Army.
SERE was developed by LTC Nick Rowe because, during his five years in captivity as a POW of the Viet Cong, he saw difficulties in how the troops were being trained. It used to be “The Big Three” (Name, Rank and Serial Number) and nothing more. But while a captive, Rowe saw that he had to change that outlook and approach things in a different manner or else he’d suffer the fate of CPT Rocky Versace, who fought the Viet Cong at every turn and so incensed his captors, that he was executed by the Cong. And with minor tweaks, the course has remained largely the way he envisioned it.
The SERE course spans three weeks with three phases of instruction, with the first phase consisting of approximately 10 days of academic instruction on the Code of Conduct and in SERE techniques that incorporate both classroom learning and hands-on field craft.
The second phase is a five-day field training exercise in which the students practice their survival and evasion skills by procuring food and water, constructing small evasion fires and shelters and evading tracker dogs and aggressor forces for long distances. This was by far the best part of the course.
The final phase takes place in the resistance training laboratory, a mock prisoner-of-war camp, where students are tested on their individual and collective abilities to resist interrogation and exploitation and to properly apply the six articles of the Code of Conduct in a realistic captivity scenario. That’s all I can say about that phase, as there some strict rules on that.
The course finishes with a day of debriefings in which the students receive individual and group feedback from the cadre. These critiques help students process everything they have been through to solidify the skills they applied properly and to correct areas using constructive criticism.
Civilian schools have now adopted similar teaching methods on SERE training, such as Sigma Survival School and Northwest Survival School.
SERE is an excellent course that each of the services has tailored to meet the needs of their particular mission. From a civilian standpoint it is great training for a variety of security and survival reasons. If you have the chance, take this training. It will also teach you something about yourself.

For those of you who know “Boots, boots…”

Sigma III Survival School https://survivalschool.us/
Northwest Survival School http://www.northwestsurvivalschool.com/

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

Overwatch: Drill of the Month For April

50 Round Time Crunch Pistol Training (pistol, 50 rounds) Kyle Defoor Target: 6-8 inch circle 1. 25 yards, 10 rounds slowfire 2. 7 yards, draw and fire 1 round (repeat 10x) 3. 7 yards, fire 1 round, reload fire 1 round (repeat 5x) 4. 7 yards, 5 round Bill Drills (repeat 4x)

Last Man Standing (pistol, 6 rounds each string) Pat McNamara, T.A.P.S.
Group competition. Use IPSC targets, loaded and holstered. On command (vocal, targets turn, timer) shooters will draw and engage their target. They must show six shots in the A zone of the target. Shooters may fire more than six rounds each time, but must show six A zone hits or they are out.

Anyone who does not show six rounds in the A zone is out. The last person to fire is out.
Repair everything in A zone. Repeat until there is only one standing. Have a couple instructors monitoring to monitor for last person shooting.

Kyle Defoor is one of the premiere firearms instructors for military, law enforcement, and civilians specializing in pistol, carbine, sniper and CQB. The bulk of his expertise was honed during his military service as a special operations member. Kyle exemplifies professionalism both as a shooter and as an instructor. Though the majority of his training instruction is done with the military, his open enrollment classes are focused on building a student’s base knowledge with a firearm and taking them to the next level. Kyle not only believes in improving a shooter’s accuracy, but also their mindset. Kyle is also a very accomplished climber, ultra runner and he’s passionate about motorcycles and the outdoors.

His website is: https://defoor-proformance-shooting.myshopify.com/


See “Overwatch: Drill of the Month” page for more drills

Adding To Your Training Program

These days we can be exposed to many ideas through several kinds of media and the internet. We can come across many new ideas, techniques, and tactics we would like to incorporate into our own training program. Maybe you recently took a class where you learned something new. How do you know whether you should change your training? This has happened to me many times. My training program has changed a few times over the years. Being open minded is good, but be careful with some new ideas. When I come across these new things I test it against some things that I have learned.

Will this tactic work for most guns?
Some techniques are specific to certain kinds of guns or actions. Not all guns operate the same. I like techniques that will work for a large variety of guns. I generally carry the same two guns that I own. I have changed guns a few times throughout the years and will change again if I buy other guns. I don’t advocate changing often, but my S&W Model 19 is not the same as my Taurus semi-auto. At one time I carried a revolver for many reasons, but things have changed over the years. I need a technique that will work for most guns.

Will the tactic work in my training program?
Most people don’t train very regularly. I ask my son about his training all the time. But he’s a young father with a demanding job, a physical workout schedule, church callings, and beautiful wife to care for. He has to work it into his schedule and that ends up not being very regular. A new tactic has to not be a big change to your current training program to be effective. Keep things simple.

Will the tactic work under stress?
When your brain is in fight or flight mode fine motor skills all but disappear. Something new must be practiced until it is second nature and muscle memory takes over. I learned some immediate action drills that I can still do in my sleep with and AR. Training does work but the technique must be simple when it is used under extreme pressure.

Will the tactic work with movement?
The military teaches “Shoot, Move, Communicate”. A firefight is not standing shooting at paper. It’s noisy and dirty/dusty. You are always moving to find better cover or a better angle. So learn to shoot then move. And move then shoot. And shoot on the move. And reload in all of those situations. The enemy will be moving too so shooting at moving targets would be good too.

Will the tactic work with multiple attackers and in a crowd?
If you don’t see a threat, there’s one there. If you see one, there’s two, and so on. Often threats can come from an attacker in a crowded place. How will you deal with more than one attacker in a mall? In a restaurant? Will this new idea work under these conditions?

Will the tactic work in low light?
Many times we’ll be faced with the added burden of target identification. Unlike the bad guy, we must worry about who we are going to shoot. Remember this in training. Training in low light is necessary.

How well will the tactic work and keep the target in sight?
If you consider something new will it impede you sight? Can you reload, maneuver, and still not lose sight of the threat?
These are some things to think about when deciding to add anything to your training regime. Everyone who carries a gun should train. But be specific about your training.

Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

We're All Safe Now... Bump Stocks Are Gone

March 28, 2019 marks the start of the famed “bump-stock ban”. This is not a law but an executive order from our President Trump. In my opinion it is a “knee-jerk” reaction to the tragedy mass killing in Las Vegas that murdered 58 people and injured 851. The following is an article about the outcome of this ban from the Blog:

The Zelman Partisans

They say it better than I could…

http://zelmanpartisans.com/?p=5938

“BSTD BUMP-FIRE BAN COMPLIANCE RATE (POLL)
April 3, 2019
Carl Bussjaeger
The deadline for compliance with the irrational “bump-stock-type device (BSTD)” — bump-fire — ban has passed. So how effective has the imperial fiat been at making the nation safe from inert “machineguns”?
Who the hell knows? No one even knows how many there were; the ATF’s “estimate” (“SA Smedley! Quick; bend over so I can pull a number out.”) was 280,000 to 520,000 BSTDs sold. I’d like to see them give a 95% confidence level for WAG.
But I was interested, so I’ve been collecting turn-in reports. Such as they are. The majority of reports of turn-ins and destruction were merely unsubstantiated, vague claims that “people” are “complying,” without so much as a single example. I don’t count those.
The biggie, of course, was RW Arms who turned in for destruction 60,000 items they still had in stock. I’m not counting those because they hadn’t been sold; they weren’t part of the 280-520K giggle-guess.
After that come the great state of Washington, with a reported 1,000 turned in during their “buy-back”.” The problem with that number is hiding in the details. People were supposed to be paid $150 for each bump-fire stock. But the most detailed report stated that they only paid for 122 of 150 stocks surrendered. I suspect they were paying for commercial products, and some maliciously compliant smartasses (bless ’em) slapped together some bump-fire stocks from hunks of wood or PVC pipe.
So my wild ass guess is that only 81% of the WA turn-ins would count against the ATF “sold” estimate: 810.
Florida, which also banned bump-fire ahead of the federal rule, saw a whopping “handful,”, which I’ll call 5 (for the digits of a hand). Moving right along…
Illinois saw “a few” but a more detailed report clarified that “few” meant “1”.
Massachusetts, again with an earlier state ban: “only a few”. Since “few” doesn’t appear to be defined in statutory law, let’s say that between “handful” and “dozen.” Call it 8.
In North Carolina, the ATF claims “some” were turned over, but declined to give numbers. How many is “some”? I’m feeling generous. It was “steadily […] over the last few weeks.” Steadily = 1 per week. Few = 8. So call it 8 more BSTDs.
Vermont has some hard numbers. They got… 2.
The only other reported numbers were Rhode Island, New Jersey, and the City of Denver: Zero, 0, zip, nada, each. Zero is a number.
So, nationwide, I can only document 834 bump-fire stocks turned in. For some values of “document.”
But one can comply with the Royal Whim by destroying your valuable property. That’s going to be a little tougher to nail down.
I had no news reports specifically describing any destructions, just the aforemention vague “people are doing but we don’t know.” So next I turned to YouTube.
Frankly, a couple of searches there surprised me. I honestly thought I’d find more. As with news reports, it was mostly, “I’m going to,” or “I did, but I’m not showing it.”
The only videos I located which showed the destruction or the finished “product” numbered just…
11.
Of those eleven, we have 1 which went out in a blaze of glory in a Viking funeral (the dildos were a nice touch), 1 destroyed in the shop, 1 more chopped, 3 barbecued to death, 3 lost in a horrible dumpster fire, 1 homemade pistol bump-fire device rendered inert, and 1 lost in a tragic boating accident just before it was turned in.
Scratch the homemade unit (only counting those the ATF estimates “sold,” you know), and we have 10. We’re now up to 845 mass murder tactical death machines safely off the street.
845. Across the nation.
I searched a few firearms forums as well. Not a single turn-in or destruction mentioned. It was mostly, “They’re stupid; I never had one,” “I had one, but it wasn’t as good as I thought, and I got rid of it years ago,” or “They look like fun, but I never bought one.” I rather expected a “few” from my cold, dead hands declarations, but didn’t spot any.
845.
Taking the ATF’s low estimate of 280,000 BSTDs sold, they have achieved a miraculous 0.30% compliance rate.
Using the highball guess: 0.16%.
Trump must be so proud.
Zelman Partisan regulars are fine, upstanding people who obviously do their best to comply with constitutional laws. No doubt any of us who happened to own one of these evil machineguns has done the right thing. So quick poll of those who had them.”
Thanks Zelman Partisans for the great article!

I think this is pretty clear. Carl gives you links to most of these reports. Maybe President Trump was told “If you ban these stocks it won’t really have much of an affect, but it will appease the left that believe the ban will actually do something.” Because, clearly, it didn’t make a very big difference. What it did do was stop manufacturing of these stocks. But I expect to see one or two at the range from time to time because they are a novelty. And now they are illegal so the draw is even stronger. I guess they will out-law belt loops next. Or rubber bands. They give the same effect. I was “bump-stocking” with my 10-22 when I was a teenager. The only thing achieved was taking a product off the market. But now we’re all safe…
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn