Posted on 11/26/2007 7:28:22 PM PST by Copernicus
The ATF issues a ruling, the victims squirm and squeal for about a year and then the waters are quiet again.
No word on what will happen to the customers who paid for these Rube Goldberg devices.
For a review of the history of the Akins Accelerator as posted on Free Republic search keywork "Akins"
Best regards to all,
Best regards,
Could you give us a clue what an Akins Accelerator is?
So all you have to do to get off the hook is to disclaim liability? Novel legal theory there. Perhaps a clue as to how they ended up where they did.
My recollection is that it was a hardware device to make an ordinary gun perform much like a full automatic would. Thus, the interest from the BATFE.
No, it is not a new low carb diet that promises faster results
Check out the clip on Youtube.
“Could you give us a clue what an Akins Accelerator is?”
I thought it was a weight loss product.
I tried the Akins Diet and it didn’t do much for me...... :^)
you’d gain a lot of weight from all that lead
I really did lose 130 pounds on that diet. Well, after the divorce...
Thanks for the info! I'd love to shoot one!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=akins
Best regards,
OTOH the ATF, in typical fashion, inspected the device before and stated it was not a class III device and its use didn’t turn a firearm into a class III, so Akins went forward with production (at an out-of-pocket expense of 100’s of k$). Then, the ATF turns around and says, yes, it is class III, you don’t have a permit, and all the people you sold it to could now be charged with felonies if they don’t surrender the devices, no compensation. Here’s a case where a “ruling” from the ATF carries the weight of law, even when the ATF contradicts itself. The power to do that is extremely destructive, and any agency with that power needs tight control (e.g. by one or more of the branches of government). Gun owners have gotten no help from the Bush administration, however.
Put one of those on the 44mag version of that weapon and you would have some real firepower
http://airbornecombatengineer.typepad.com/airborne_combat_engineer/2007/02/atkins_accelera.html
The device really is the stock and spring, the barrel slides back and forth in the stock an serves as a disconnect link, like in a full auto in a full auto.
My understanding is that the device allows the firearm, including the trigger, to recoil back far enough that the finger that was on the trigger will release it; the spring then pushes the firearm back forward such that if the user's finger hasn't moved it will pull the trigger again.
If the makers of the Atkins Accelerator wanted to push the issue, they should move to the district where the Rock Island Armory case was decided (which struck down the 1986 ban on full autos), register an Accellerator, pay the $200, and then sue for a refund of that $200. That's essentially the approach used by Thompson/Center Arms to get a Supreme Court ruling that a kit containing a Contender pistol frame, a stock, an 18" barrel, a 14" barrel, and a note warning against attaching the 14" barrel and stock simultaneously, was not a "short-barreled rifle".
I think anyone that bought one could make the ATF buy it and pay their attorney's fees and damages. You are correct about the Thompson center, but the case that ATF was trying to make was that attaching the barrel that would chamber and shoot a 410 shot gun shell would be a sawed off shot gun. The supremes laughed at them.
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