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Title: Donald Trump's Bump Stock Ban Turns Peaceful Gun Owners Into Felons by Fiat
Source:
Reason
URL Source: https://reason.com/blog/2019/03/28/ ... n-turns-peace?utm_medium=email
Published: Mar 28, 2019
Author: Jacob Sullum
Post Date: 2019-03-29 06:33:20 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1149
Comments: 11
As of midnight on Tuesday, owners of "bump-stock-type devices" became felons, subject to a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. That's a pretty nasty surprise for anyone who bought these products, which were repeatedly declared legal by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) during the Bush and Obama administrations. It is especially unsettling because the law has not changed since the agency made that determination. What happened instead is that the ATF, under orders from Donald Trump, reinterpreted the law to reach a diametrically opposed conclusion that is contrary to the plain meaning of the relevant statutes. Critics of presidential power grabs, regardless of how they feel about bump stocks or gun control more generally, should be troubled by this blatant usurpation of congressional authority. Bump stocks are accessories that facilitate a rifle shooting technique in which recoil energy causes the gun to slide backward after a round is fired, resetting the trigger. By maintaining forward pressure on the rifle, the shooter bumps the trigger against his stationary finger, which fires another round, causing the rifle to slide backward again, and so on. Until October 1, 2017, the technique, which increases the rate of fire but reduces accuracy, was of interest mainly to gun enthusiasts, the companies that sold bump stocks, and the ATF officials who approved their sale. But after a gunman equipped with multiple rifles and bump stocks murdered 58 people in Las Vegas, Trump promised to ban the devices by administrative fiat. The ATF rule that took effect this week accomplishes that trick by reclassifying bump stocks as illegal machine guns. The problem is that federal law defines a machine gun as "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." A rifle with a bump stock does not fire automatically, since the shooter has to push the rifle forward while keeping his finger in position, and it does not fire more than one round by a single function of the trigger, since the trigger has to be reset before another round can be fired. That is why the ATF concluded, over and over again, that bump stocks are not machine guns. That is why, even after the Las Vegas massacre, both supporters and opponents of a bump stock ban agreed that it could be accomplished only by a new act of Congress. Trump, who has a habit of ignoring inconvenient laws, was undeterred. He instructed the Justice Department, which includes the ATF, to come up with a legal rationale for the ban he had already decided to impose. The DOJ complied by defining "a single function of the trigger" as "a single pull of the trigger," defining pull to exclude what happens during bump fire, and treating the shooter as part of the rifle mechanism, ignoring his active participation in the process so that the gun could be said to fire "automatically." Last month, responding to lawsuits by bump stock owners and gun rights groups, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich concluded that the ATF had acted within its authority by reinterpreting "single function of the trigger" and "automatically," terms that he deemed "ambiguous." The plaintiffs, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn that ruling, vigorously and persuasively contest Friedrich's characterization of those terms. "A 'single function of the trigger' involves the mechanical movement of the mechanism that constitutes the trigger," they note. "It is complete when the trigger traverses its range of motion and initiates the firing sequence. A separate function occurs when the trigger is released and returns to its starting point to reset....Regardless whether the shooter 'pulls' their finger against the trigger or pushes the firearm and trigger forward against a stationary finger, neither the operation of the trigger's component parts nor the operation of the firearm vary. Each round discharged is the result of a single function of the trigger initiated by the manual act of putting pressure on the reset trigger." The plaintiffs also point out that the word automatically "means by mechanical process without further human intervention," so shooting automatically "means to continue to fire without further human action beyond a single function of the trigger." Bump fire, by contrast, is "mediated by the human intervention of repeatedly forcing the gun body and trigger forward to reengage the trigger after it has been returned to its starting position and has reset." Accepting the ATF's counterintuitive definition of these terms "yields absurd results," the appeal brief notes, since the statutory definition of machine gun also includes "parts designed and intended" to convert a weapon into a machine gun and "any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person." The ATF concedes that "individuals wishing to replicate the effects of bump-stock-type devices could also use rubber bands, belt loops, or otherwise train their trigger finger to fire more rapidly." The implication is that any semi-automatic rifle, if owned by someone who also has rubber bands, belt loops, or fingers, could be considered a machine gun. Although the ATF has said it does not intend to follow through on that logic, such reassurances only underline the arbitrariness of its legal interpretation. Even if the contested terms were ambiguous, the plaintiffs say, the ATF's new interpretation would violate the "rule of lenity," which requires that ambiguous criminal statutes be read narrowly. They also argue that the rule is "arbitrary and capricious," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. A brief filed by the Cato Institute elaborates on that last point by highlighting the result-oriented process that led to the rule, which "was a fait accompli" before the ATF even began to reconsider the issue. "Expressly declining to pursue a legislative solution, [Trump] directed his administration to redefine bump-stock devices...as automatic weapons," the Cato brief says. In response, the ATF "broke from decades of precedent and discovered a new power to prohibit that widely held type of firearm accessory. This expansion of regulatory authority, motivated by political expediency, is arbitrary and capricious." The ATF's arbitrary and capricious rule unjustly criminalizes peaceful behavior that not only does not violate anyone's rights but does not violate the law by any reasonable interpretation. The DOJ estimates that Americans own as many as 520,000 bump stocks. Since the Supreme Court has declined to intervene by issuing an emergency stay that would have prevented the ATF from enforcing its rule while the case is pending, potentially hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans are now exposed to prosecution for possessing products that everyone thought were legal until Donald Trump decided otherwise.
The ban, which took effect this week, usurps congressional authority by rewriting an inconvenient law.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
I did not have one of these. Never wanted one. However, I do not agree with Trump doing this. It worries me, along with his " take the guns first, due process later. " It worries me that if he wants to " make a deal " on some other legislation, that he will agree to some other egregious 2nd Amendment infraction. It was claimed prior to the election that he was a NY liberal at heart I hope not, but that is my concern !
Si vis pacem, para bellum Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Never Pick A Fight With An Old Man He Will Just Shoot You He Can't Afford To Get Hurt "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." (Will Rogers) "No one ever rescues an old dog. They lay in a cage until they die. PLEASE save one. None of us wants to die cold and alone... --Dennis Olson " AMERICA! Designed by geniuses. Now run by idiots.
If Trump is reelected, America as we've known it will be past history. Neither the Bump Stock Ban, nor Red Flag Gun Confiscations were mentioned by Donnell at his Grand Rapids MI rally yesterday. What a coincidence! /s
New York Values are the law of the land, by Presidential Fiat edict. Elections have consequences. Ted Cruz tried to warn us, but the Cult of Trump wouldn't listen.
Will we see gun owners arrested for possessing rubber bands or belt buckles while also in possession of a semi-automatic rifle? It wouldn't surprise me. Kind of like being arrested as a drug dealer for having baggies or a scale in your house.
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. We all new this was going to happen. Change the law and you can buy full auto's like you do semiauto's. You pull the trigger once and the gun will not stop firing until you remove finger from the trigger, run out of ammo or it jams. Yes that makes it a full auto!
"Socialism corrupts and Democratic Socialism corrupts Absolutely"!
President Trump IS the law, particularly in this instance. Change the president, impeach, try, execute. Treason, He's given aid and comfort to the enemy, The Hogg Bros! Hogg Bros, Take the Guns First
The only person in this government fighting for you and me is Trump. If you are too stupid or bias that's a problem I can not help you with. If you want a fullauto then either go throw the bs and get one or change the law. Trying to skirt the law is still breaking the law. That's what the bumpstock was all about.
"Socialism corrupts and Democratic Socialism corrupts Absolutely"!
So does using your belt loop. Now what? They should have either required registration of bump stocks or offered a cash trade-in. This is an ex post fact law. The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto* Law will be passed." *An ex post facto law retroactively makes criminal conduct that was not criminal when performed.
Not sure what you are talking about with the belt loop? I knew this was coming the moment I saw the bumpstock. One pull of the trigger and it becomes a fullauto. I was tempted to buy one but new they would be found "illegal". People arguing about this subject to me seem nutty and im a gun nut! This isn't our fathers country anymore and unless you are willing to go to war you just have to deal with it in the most efficient manner possible. In other words pick your fights. This is not a winnable fight.
"Socialism corrupts and Democratic Socialism corrupts Absolutely"!
I can also bump shoot an ak47 to mimic a full auto. I have never tried my AR15.
"Socialism corrupts and Democratic Socialism corrupts Absolutely"!
#2. To: Deckard, Red Flag Donnell, Take The Guns (#0)
#3. To: Stoner, youre in NYC now (#1)
Published on Jan 16, 2016
#4. To: Stoner, hondo68 (#1)
The ATF concedes that "individuals wishing to replicate the effects of bump-stock-type devices could also use rubber bands, belt loops, or otherwise train their trigger finger to fire more rapidly." The implication is that any semi-automatic rifle, if owned by someone who also has rubber bands, belt loops, or fingers, could be considered a machine gun. Although the ATF has said it does not intend to follow through on that logic, such reassurances only underline the arbitrariness of its legal interpretation.
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#5. To: Deckard, all, waste of time change the law!!!! (#0)
#6. To: Justified, Tyrant Trump, Imperial Decree, no bumpin', slack jawed progressives (#5)
(Edited)
change the law!!!!
#7. To: hondo68 (#6)
#8. To: Justified (#5)
You pull the trigger once and the gun will not stop firing until you remove finger from the trigger, run out of ammo or it jams. Yes that makes it a full auto!
#9. To: misterwhite (#8)
#10. To: Justified (#9)
Not sure what you are talking about with the belt loop?
#11. To: misterwhite, All (#10)
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