RECOIL Issue #36

With the announcement that his administration was moving to ban bump stocks following the recent school shooting in Florida, the Trump White House has crossed into all-too-familiar territory. Following a frenetic and seemingly orchestrated campaign from the anti-gun crowd and their lackeys in the media, Congress and the executive branch were under intense pressure to “do something,” even if that something was ineffectual, poorly reasoned, and nothing more than a sop to people who rely on feelings to get them through life. After mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas, those who would compulsorily disarm us finally had the bloody shirt they wanted. Evidently, some lives are more valuable to their narrative than others.

It’s easy to see why bump stock manufacturers were thrown under the bus, and having to defend a useless plastic gimmick accessory doesn’t rile up the gun-owning populace in the same way that a semi-auto ban would. Unfortunately, however, if we give these bastards an inch, they’ll take a mile.

What’s more concerning about the president’s executive order is that the bump stock already complies with federal law regarding the definition of a semi-auto — i.e. one shot is fired per trigger press. In order to ban the devices, either Congress would need to amend existing law, or the executive branch would have to go around them and create an administrative rule by fiat. This has the very real potential to ensnare other unrelated accessories, such as competition triggers and lightweight bolt carrier groups, depending on the language used. This isn’t the way our republic is supposed to work.

In the first stage of the proposed rule change following the Las Vegas atrocity, the BATFE solicited comments from stakeholders who might have been affected by any changes — in excess of 90 percent of those who commented were against any action being taken.

The next phases of rule making are the creation of a draft proposal, followed by a further comment period. We recommend you let your government know in no uncertain terms that any infringement of our Second Amendment rights is unacceptable.

Check out RECOIL Issue 36.

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