As reported by the Associated Press, the Trump Administrations unilateral ban on “Bump fire” style gun stocks, became official today, despite not having Congressional approval or Constitutional authority to do so.
The 153 page law, signed by Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, can be read here.
The regulation gives owners of these devices 90 days (starting Friday) to destroy them or surrender them to the ATF.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders read a statement on this during her briefing earlier today, covered live on TNB.
On another note, the President is once again fulfilling a promise he made to the American people. And this morning, the Acting Attorney General signed the final rule, making clear that bump stocks are illegal because they fall within the definition of machine guns that are banned under federal firearms law.
A 90-day period now begins, which persons and possessions of bump-stock-type devices must turn those devices to an ATF field office or destroy them by March 21st. Instructions for proper destruction will be posted on ATF’s website today.
www.whitehouse.gov
As of the time of this posting the NRA has not commented on the passage of today’s gun law.
Another 2nd Amendment watchdog group The Gun Owners of America posted on their Twitter page that they are filing a lawsuit against the ATF for it’s infringement.
So what’s all this about anyway?
A bump fire gun stock simulates the technique of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to fire off successive rounds simulating the feeling of firing a fully automatic weapon. It is mechanically nothing like a machine gun and may seriously damage the firearm as it was never designed to be used that way. It’s essentially like pulling the trigger really really fast. The technique can be also used on almost all semi-automatic weapons without the use of any mechanical device, given enough practice. Many people have also used rubber bands and most commonly belt loops, firing from the hip. The result is a very inaccurate and hard to control burst of gunfire.
As you can see from the video below no mechanical device is necessary to “Bump fire” a semi-automatic weapon.
Opinion
Regardless if the video above terrifies you or makes you laugh, one thing is clear. The Government under President Donald Trump, is unilaterally infringing on our 2nd Amendment rights by regulating it through executive fiat, without congressional approval, or constitutional authority.
I can guarantee this will set precedent for further intrusions from not only Trump, but other Presidents down the road, whenever they simply want to cut a little bit of fat off the Constitution.
While you may or may not favor the 2nd Amendment, just imagine if this is a constitutional amendment that you do like. What is next? An Executive Order to ban the media?
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