https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5845
The term “machinegun” means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The term shall also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.
You are right, and President Trump is wrong. Still, this is salvageable and even as a big win. I’d like to see the Administration defend this bad ruling in court against the NRA’s lawsuit and (intentionally) fail. The precedent would help in defending against any similar regulatory overreach in the future.
The Slide Fire stock is designed to convert a semi-automatic rifle to perform like an automatic rifle, period. No, it does not operate like an auto sear, but it is designed solely and exclusively to make the weapon operate like a machinegun. That the designer used a different approach to achieve the high rate of fire is not going to matter to a judge.
As I said earlier in this thread, I think automatic rifles should be legal, but that is not the law. This EO is following the spirit, if not the letter of the law.