Posted on 02/27/2018 7:31:01 PM PST by Simon Green
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that he believes bump fire stocks can be effectively banned through regulation, teasing that an announcement from the Justice Department would be coming soon.
"We've had to deal with previous (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) legal opinions but our top people in the Department of Justice have believed for some time that we can, through the regulatory process, not allow the bump stock to convert a weapon from semi automatic to fully automatic," Sessions said at a gathering of state attorneys general in Washington.
"We've been working on that for some time. We'll have an announcement on that soon. We believe in that," he said.
Bump fire stocks, commonly known as bump stocks, are devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at a more rapid rate. Investigators have said 12 bump stock devices were found in the hotel room where a shooter in Las Vegas fired on a crowd of concertgoers last year, killing 58 people.
The Justice Department in December announced that it was beginning the rule-making process that could allow it to reinterpret the legality of bump stocks. President Donald Trump sent a memo to Sessions ordering the department propose regulations banning the devices last week after the Parkland school shooting.
Some lawmakers and law enforcement experts have been skeptical that bump stocks could be banned through regulation without miring the ATF in lawsuits, pushing instead for a legislative fix.
The National Rifle Association has supported the ATF review of the bump stock and said devices like it should be subject to additional regulations, but has publicly come out against legislation that would ban the device. Congressional efforts to ban the devices in the wake of last fall's Las Vegas shooting haven't progressed.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I agree they are a novelty at best. Who really cares about bump stocks? A little drilling and filing and a zip tie you can have a fully automatic.
Agreed.
Doddering old statist.
Is he saying that the Second Amendment has a clause that makes Automatic Firearms Illegal for Law Abiding American Citizens to possess?
Is there another Paragraph after “Shall Not Be Infringed”?
I must have missed it.
“What rate of fire constitutes fully automatic? This is just really fast semi-automatic fire, and it bothers me that the people in charge arent smart enough to figure it out.”
I don’t think that bump stocks can come close to the rate of fire of an M-16 in full auto mode. Using 55 grain ammo, an M-16 has a rate of fire of 950 rounds per minute. That means a 20 round mag goes empty in a little over two seconds. I have heard that bump stocks can achieve about half that rate.
Turn this into a win by demanding complete deregulation of suppressors in exchange for bump stocks.
Any fool with a plastic printer can print out bump stocks for himself or friends, but good suppressors not so much.
Useless Sessions, SHUT up!
Not the slightest chance, sadly.
Your post is why we need a Like button. Exactly my thoughts as well.
ATF will probably suggest taxing bump stocks, citing some tenuous link to existing statutory authority. The willow wands in Congress won’t object, and neither will our “Obamacare-is-a-tax” high court. Adding a $200 tax (& 6 month wait) to a $20 piece of plastic will effectively eliminate sales...
Agreed. Bump stocks serve no purpose and don't even make mass shooters more dangerous, but there is no legal basis for banning them in regulations.
Anyone can create one with a 3D printer in matter of minutes...
“If you put your thumb in your belt loop while firing am semi auto”
Few people knew about bump stocks prior to the Vegas shooting. They are too “low tech” to ban (in the real world). Like has been discussed you can do the same thing with a rubber binder or a belt loop.
This is just low hanging fruit for the gun grabbers.
If full auto is worthless why does the military use them?
Bump stocks give less than half the performance of full auto but they do manage to deliver multiple rounds into a crowd. Rapid fire is not needed when hunting or facing down another man but when you are facing an attack group you might want to put more rounds in the air.
Have you ever fired a full auto?
Took me a sec...but lol
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