The Bump Stock Ban

I’m going to give you the short version up front. That bump stock you bought a few months ago? It’s now the most dangerous thing you could possibly own. It’s classified as a machine gun, you have 90 days to get rid of it, and there’s no way to make it legal.

You have two options. The first is to destroy it. I suggest having a witness present to make a video recording. The second is to turn it over to law enforcement. Have a witness present and get a written receipt as well as the name and number of the official to whom you surrendered it.

There’s no third option. Since these are essentially post-1986 machine guns, there’s no way to register them. If you want to play games and hold onto it, remember that 82 people burned to death at Waco on the mere suspicion of that.

The deadline is March 21st. The actual ruling is here [pdf].

Aren’t I just a ray of sunshine today? Unfortunately, you’re screwed. Yes, it’s an illegal use of executive power and regulatory authority. Yes, only Congress can make law. Yes, it violates the 5th Amendment by depriving you of property without compensation. Yes, it will probably be overturned in court.

The problem is timing. Gun Owners of America has promised to file for an injunction, but their track record on litigation is dismal and the process involves judge-shopping, arguments, and filings. If they can’t get it before the deadline, it’ll be a moot point.

As for the NRA, I’ve no idea why they’re either supporting this or refusing to challenge it. If allowed to stand, it will set a very dangerous precedent, and one that future Presidents won’t hesitate to exploit. Say what we may about the abuse of executive orders (and I have), but this is much worse. We have a separation of powers for very good reason, and we cannot give one man the authority to make law by fiat.

(The irony is that the idea of compensation was rejected “because only Congress has the authority to offer monetary compensation.” Let that sink in.)

Yep. Make America great again. Build the wall. Lock her up. I hope you’re happy with your decision two years ago, because here we are. Donald Trump was willing to say anything to get elected, and his supporters didn’t show the least bit of skepticism, even when I pointed out that his past writings, deeds, and associations showed clear support for gun control.

Funny thing is, I don’t hear any Democrats screaming about this particular abuse of executive power.

From a technical standpoint, bump stocks aren’t even machine guns. The definition under the National Firearms Act is quite clear:

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.

While the bump stock allows the trigger to cycle rapidly, it does not facilitate more than one shot per trigger pull. This is obvious, and the ATF has repeatedly agreed in their opinions. The new regulation gets around that problem by (I kid you not) redefining the meaning of “single function of the trigger:”

Specifically, the NPRM proposed to amend the definitions of”machinegun” in §§478.11 and 479.11, define the term “single function of the trigger” to mean “single pull of the trigger,” and define the term “automatically” to mean “as the result of a self-acting or self-regulating mechanism that allows the firing of multiple rounds through a single pull of the trigger.” 83 FR at 13447-48. The NPRM also proposed to clarify that the definition of”machinegun” includes a device that allows a semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the semiautomatic firearm to which it is affixed so that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter (commonly known as bump-stock-type devices).

This whole thing is wrong on more levels than I can count. If it weren’t for the three month deadline, I wouldn’t be so glum about it, but here we are. The only course of action I can recommend is compliance, no matter how much it may sting.