Posted on 12/08/2018 8:00:33 AM PST by Simon Green
President Trump made up his mind some time ago to ban bump stocks, the woefully ineffective firearm accessory regrettably used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Recently, though, reports from CNN and the New York Times indicate that the Trump administration is poised to implement a ban on these devices in the coming days. There are two major issues with this: they can’t legally do it, and it’s dumb.
Still, you may remember the media storm around bump stocks last year. Deserved or not, a proposition to ban bump stocks seemed to have bipartisan support, but Congress couldn’t agree on a way to ban or regulate the devices, so the momentum petered out.
Perhaps in search of mythical bipartisanship points, Trump ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to craft a new administrative rule banning the devices. This might seem odd to anyone who has managed to stay awake through a single civics class or a third of an episode of “Schoolhouse Rock.” That’s because this attempt to bypass the legislature is completely out of line with the law.
Bump Stocks Are Not Machine Guns
For better or for worse, the DOJ was given the authority to regulate machine guns with the National Firearms Act of 1934 and Gun Control Act of 1968. These laws specifically define a “machine gun,” and over the last 10 years several administrations have reviewed bump stocks and repeatedly determined that they do not fall in that category.
But, when faced with an opportunity for political expediency in the wake of the Vegas shooting, President Trump basically demanded the DOJ pretend as if bump stocks—a shaped piece of plastic—somehow now fall within the legal definition of “machine gun.” This is absurd.
Imagine there were a law giving the DOJ the authority to regulate blue cars, and that for decades the DOJ agreed with the reasonable proposition that green cars were not included in the definition of “blue cars,” and thus could not regulate them. Then imagine that a tragedy involving a green car occurs, and the DOJ is suddenly of the opinion that green is actually a shade of blue.
That is exactly what is happening here. Under federal law, a “machine gun” is a device “which shoots … automatically more than one shot … by a single function of the trigger.” A bump stock, on the other hand, functions with repeated actuations of a trigger.
If the government really wants to regulate bump stocks (which they shouldn’t), they need to do it by passing a new law, not by assigning new meaning to an old one. This whole point should be moot, though, because of the fact that bump stocks are not actually uniquely dangerous compared to other guns. Hollywood and video games have convinced the American public that the faster people can fire, the more deadly they can be. Reality, though, is a bit more nuanced.
How Do Bump Stocks Actually Work?
A gun’s usable rate of fire is limited by its recoil. Unlike a truck, bomb, or knife, when a firearm is discharged, it deviates from its course and needs to be re-aimed before it can fire again effectively. A gun that fires 10,000 rounds per minute is no more useful than a regular rifle if the gun is pointing in the air after the first shot. This is why not even our military regularly uses fully automatic “machine gun” fire in standard rifles—they’re just not nearly as deadly or effective as they sound.
In reality, there is no gun that is more or less safe when misused against innocent people. The American people think it’s reasonable to ban something like a bump stock because it is “like a machine gun” only because of a fundamentally flawed conception of how firearms actually work.
We need to remember that any time we want to ban something, it comes at a tremendous cost. President Trump is wasting not only time and sidestepping the law with this proposal, he is betraying his promise to protect gun rights—with no benefit to public safety.
Was it used in that LV shooting? In any case I’ve seen demo’s using bungee cords that do the same thing plus someone with a fat tummy can do the same thing as well.
Where is the actual LV shooting investigation results?
I am sorry, as a member of a gun club which had to ban bump stocks because of members inadvertently sending projectiles into neighboring ranges and putting other members at risk... This is much ado about nothing. Anyone who wants to waste ammunition can figure out other ways to do it.
Islam for one! Technically speaking it should be illegal in every civilized nation as it declares slavery legally acceptable. There is no grey area. It permits and encourages the taking of slaves!
Hello 13th amendment! The sleepy Keebler elf has gone back to his hollow tree, what's the hold up?
Of course it is not authorized by the law. But America ceased operating as a nation of laws a couple of decades ago.
We are currently a mostly soft authoritarian government.
And the presidency is more properly thought of as a central committee. This is demonstrated by the current White House staff. Trump is only allowed to do what they agree with and what they will not refuse to execute for him.
So really Trump is Chairman Trump, and he must operate within the bounds of the will of the Central Committee.
However, Democrats have full dictatorial powers.
Building gun ranges next to mosques...now there’s an idea...
Trump also green-lighted red flag laws at the state level that have gone wild.
The future holds for more gun control under Trump as the states pile on with bans of many types. Obama is smiling as his work is being done for him.
The NRA sits silently as it will do or say nothing that may cause members of Congress to have to vote on statute that would harm their ratings.
Get use to it as reciprocity and the 2nd Amend. continues to be eviscerated.
Not a bump stock fan. So....too bad, so sad. Not sure how they slipped through the cracks in the first place
Whether they are useful and a good weapons accessory is a different discussion.
Is it illegal to ban? Not really sure, but it appears to make it capable of shooting more ammo quicker.
Yes, if you don’t like them, they should be able to ban them with a presidential order no matter what the law says. You are a real long term thinker I can tell.
Ever pause for a minute and wonder if the next revolutionary socialist president can simply write a letter and deem all AR-15 pattern rifles as NFA?
There would be no difference.
Exactly right. If they can ban bump stocks by the stroke of a pen,, watch them do the same to normal capacity magazines in the future.
Building gun ranges next to mosques...now there’s an idea...
= = =
Mosque probably already has one in their basement.
“The stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed. In order to use the device, the shooter must apply constant forward pressure with the non-shooting hands and constant rearward pressure with the shooting hand. Accordingly, we find that the ‘bump stock’ is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.”
Mechanically, nothing has changed. Politically, cowardice reigns. And it would help if Freepers who don’t chit about firearms keep their ignorance to themselves before sounding like Pelosi.
The back-stabbers and traitors are disclosing themselves.
Where is the actual LV shooting investigation results?
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I don’t think anything has been published. We’ll never learn the truth.
Legally, this is the same as banning Jerry Miculek
“Exactly right. If they can ban bump stocks by the stroke of a pen,, watch them do the same to normal capacity magazines in the future.”
Not just mags, it will be the entire rifle. What Trump is doing is ignoring the law and deciding that a bump stock is now an NFA item and must be turned in. He is doing it solely based on emotion and not the written law.
Any future Obama or Hillary will simply apply a little sophistry in the executive order and “deem” all AR-15 and AK pattern rifles to be NFA items.
Yep
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