Posted on 11/15/2018 8:06:39 AM PST by Simon Green
“The Department of Justice is issuing a rulemaking that would interpret the statutory definition of machine gun in the National Firearms Act of 1934 and Gun Control Act of 1968 to clarify whether certain devices, commonly known as bump-fire stocks, fall within that definition.”
That’s the intro (or “abstract”) to the DoJ’s newly issued public rule following their re-examination of the classification of bump fire stocks. This, of course, was done after last year’s Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting in which 58 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. That was the only crime in which a bump fire stock had ever been used.
The ATF had issued an approval letter to SlideFire for their bump fire stock back in 2010 that read, in part:
“The stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed. … Accordingly, we find that the ‘bump-stock’ is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.”
That was, of course, the correct ruling under the law as written.
In February, however, President Trump directed Justice to take another look at them, a move that was supported at the time by the NRA. He apparently wanted the ATF to look deeply into the emanations and penumbras of the law to see if, just maybe, there was a way to look at bump fire stocks in a whole new way.
Well, take another look they have, and — to the surprise of no one — now that we’re past the midterms, the DoJ has now classified bump fire stocks as NFA-regulated items, the legal equivalent of a machine gun.
This rule is intended to clarify that the statutory definition of machinegun includes certain devices (i.e., bump-stock-type devices) that, when affixed to a firearm, allow that firearm to fire automatically with a single function of the trigger, such that they are subject to regulation under the National Firearms Act (NFA) and the Gun Control Act (GCA). The rule will amend 27 CFR 447.11, 478.11, and 479.11 to clarify that bump-stock-type devices are machineguns as defined by the NFA and GCA because such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger. Specifically, these devices convert an otherwise semiautomatic firearm into a machinegun by functioning as a self-acting or self-regulating mechanism that harnesses the recoil energy of the semiautomatic firearm in a manner that allows the trigger to reset and continue firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter.
You can read the full rule here.
There’s only one problem. As stated above,
…such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger.
That’s demonstrably false. As anyone who’s used one can tell you, a bump fire stock slides back and forth, allowing the shooter to pull the trigger faster. But the rifle still fires only one round per trigger pull. It may simulate rapid fire approximating what a fully automatic weapon does, but it’s still semi-automatic.
That, of course, was the basis for the ATF’s original approval eight years ago. But the law and the facts apparently aren’t in play when there are larger, political considerations.
From the rule’s costs and benefits section:
This rule provides significant non-quantifiable benefits to public safety. Among other things, it clarifies that a bump-stock-type device is a machinegun and limits access to them; prevents usage of bump-stock-type devices for criminal purposes; reduces casualties in mass shootings, such as the Las Vegas shooting; and helps protect first responders by preventing shooters from using a device that allows them to shoot a semiautomatic firearm automatically.
Just how the DoJ plans to handle the millions of unregistered bump fire stocks that are already owned by the public isn’t clear.
So far, there’s no word from the administration as to when they intend to begin the notice and comment process on the proposed reclassification of rubber bands as machine guns, but we’ll keep you informed.
Absolute fact. And unfortunately the NRA sure didn’t help with this reality... They are the reason these compromises keep happening. They should have NEVER compromised in the first place. Not once along the way did firearms owners want or approve of them doing this.
Don’t blame Trump for actions by leftists in the DOJ
This is an insane ruling. Who’s filing what court suit?
As a long time Life member of the NRA I have more than once been tempted to resign my membership because of the numerous compromises they make, especially since those compromises always have us losing more rights with nothing in return.
NRA - there’s money to be had in prolonging the problem.
See my tagline...
From October 1st of this year:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-bumpstocks/trump-says-close-to-finalizing-effective-ban-on-gun-bump-stocks-idUSKCN1MB3C3
“We’re knocking out bump stocks,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “We’re in the final two or three weeks, and I’ll be able to write out bump stocks.”
You’ve hit the nail on the head. No one has ever accused Wayne LaPierre of being a real “gun guy”, but being in the leadership of the NRA has been berry berry good to him, to the tune of nearly $1,000,000 a year. And the kicker is that he is a piss poor public face of the NRA.
Our ancestors should have shut the door and formed a more principled organization right after the very first compromise.
It is unfortunate that we are now stuck with the “something is better than nothing” situation we are now in with the NRA.
Tell you what... If they actually cared, they would temporarily shut down all extra curricular activity and invest every dollar they can get into setting constitutional precedent by forcing every anti-firearm law in Ca up to the Supreme Court as a #1 priority.
They ALL come from Ca to our states next. And it needs to be STOPPED as the experimental SOURCE of these unconstitutional laws. Cut the head off the snake...
“the legal equivalent of a machine gun. “
Good luck enforcing this ‘law’. What about woodworking tools and inlaying black. What about a leaf-stock spring? They can be used to make a bump stock. Brrrrr.
Never saw the profit in using a bump stock... Particularly since my Tac-Triggers are far more efficient for spray jobs...
But the stink lives on...
“Implant a chip so BATFE will always know where it is.”
I won’t touch that comment just in case it’s not alway in front of a trigger! But in a perverse way, you are right. The whole country has lost its sanity. “Illigitima Non Carborundum,” Don’t let the Ba$tards Grind you Down!
Heck, if that chip is in the forefinger, they’ll assume it tells them how often I’ve pulled a trigger! Even drumming my fingers would be grounds for suspicion.
In `classical’ Latin that saying might go, “Ne illegitimi non te carborundum”. The `ne’ makes it an imperative & the ‘te’ is the object `you’.
Sure glad I’m tucked away in a small gun friendly Southern state. In Kalipornia, Massahola, & other blue states gun owners must feel like it’s the former East Germany where anyone can denounce you and you glance about before speaking.
Seriously, the most pernicious aspect of Red Flag is the elimination of penalties for making a false statement to police; normally punished as severely as perjury, meaning jail time. Now a mere misdemeanor with burden of proof on the hapless gun owner. Meanwhile, the guns are gone.
CA, WA, MD, NY, NJ, CT, & MA are going full blown fascist. As in, stopping & searching cars with Southern license plates, and `inspecting’ private homes for compliant gun storage while searching for scary black rifles.
1.) There are more firearms than citizens in the US.
2.) We’re not all dead.
1+2=3
3.) It’s not the guns. Not any of them... Not the automatic ones, not the semi-automatic ones, not the flintlocks.
There are exactly 0 US mass shootings this year using a machinegun. (Look it up if you don’t believe me.)
Bump-fire devices are now machineguns...
Simple statistics indicate that bump-fire devices are now SAFER than semi-automatic handguns.
Finally: “Shall not be infringed.”
The DOJ does not have the authority under the Constitution to limit a citizen’s right to keep and bear arms.
They just made bump-fire devices “protected” under the Constitution.
...idiots.
Sorry,
What a Headache.
LOL or stiffened index fingers.
Bump stocks are a novelty at best. I’ve played with them. It was fun, I guess. Well-aimed semi-auto shots are more than sufficient to solve most ‘problems’.
CORRECTION: New Bump Fire Stock Regulation Not Published Yet in Federal Register or Final
by Dan Zimmerman |
Nov 15, 2018 |
189 comments
...
We received the link to the proposed new rule that would regulate bump fire stocks from someone with intimate knowledge of the process earlier today. You can read that rule here. However, we have since been informed that the ATF has not yet published that rule in the federal register. As such it has not yet officially become law.
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