(TAC) — Just as some gun rights groups flip-flop on protecting the right to keep and bear arms from federal encroachment, so has Republican President Donald Trump. Not only has he ramped up federal gun control enforcement, but he has unilaterally implemented new federal gun control in the form of a bump stock ban.
As we’ve pointed before, the effectiveness of this policy is moot: the feds have no constitutional authority to restrict firearms.
It’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t merely something occurring under Trump’s watch but out of his control. The president actively pursued an unconstitutional firearm restriction through an unconstitutional method via agency rulemaking. If the constitution did not delegate authority to the Congress or the president to enact such a rule – and the Second Amendment makes that adamantly clear – then obviously a bureaucracy has no such power, either.
Before Trump supporters turn a blind eye to this or rationalize his actions, they should honestly ask themselves how they would respond if Obama tried to do the same thing.
Oh, wait. He essentially did.
In 2015, President Obama directed the ATF to pursue a possible ban on the M855 cartridge. To do so, they released a proposed agency rule which redefined M855 “green tip” ammunition as “armor piercing” to qualify it for federal prohibition under the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA).
Ostensibly, the rule was meant to curb police deaths, but many gun rights advocates rightly pointed out that it was likely a thinly-veiled effort to undermine civilian access to AR-15s. The National Rifle Association reports that the “ban was opposed by law enforcement experts, 238 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 53 U.S. senators, 80,000 Americans who submitted comments to ATF, and the NRA.”
Thankfully, though, the M855 cartridge ban ultimately failed.
When Obama was doing it, unilaterally changing agency rules to ban a certain kind of ammunition was seen as “back-door gun control.” It was an egregious executive overreach. It was a foot in the door that would lead to more and more federal gun control.
People who said this were right.
Now, the Trump administration is using essentially the same process to ban bump stocks, using redefinition of terms and changing agency rules to make the President’s preferred gun control effort fit within current federal law on the books.
In the end, NRA-backed Trump succeeded in a way Obama could not: adding another major violation of our right to keep and bear arms onto the books that is unlikely to ever be repealed.
If you ever needed an example of why we can’t trust anyone in D.C. to protect our gun rights, this is it.
The only way forward is for states to pass anti-commandeering laws that withhold critical state resources and personnel from the feds.
#1: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#0)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-12-21 08:31:18 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#1)
Now Trump does the same thing and you cheer.
Deckard posted on 2018-12-21 08:36:50 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#1)
Attaboy!!
Deckard posted on 2018-12-21 08:37:47 Reply Private Reply
#4: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Your run-of-the-mill, .223, 55gr, FMJ will penetrate 1/4 inch steel. The reason the M855 “green tip” ammunition wasn't banned is that the hysterical claims against it were bullshit.
misterwhite posted on 2018-12-21 10:18:49 Reply Private Reply
#5: Justified To: Deckard (#0)
Stop your whinnying. This is a loser argument and makes you look pathetic!
Justified posted on 2018-12-21 12:49:06 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: Justified (#5)
A bump stock doesn't magically turn a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun.
The NFA 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 bump stock harnesses recoil energy to make a rifle slide back after it is fired, resetting the trigger. If the shooter maintains forward pressure on the barrel, the trigger will bump against his stationary finger, causing the gun to fire again, and so on.
This technique increases the rate of fire, but the rifle is still shooting just one round for each function of the trigger.
Deckard posted on 2018-12-21 13:00:42 Reply Private Reply
#7: Justified To: Deckard (#6)
This is a loser argument. You do all of us on the pro 2nd amendment side a disservice and make it harder to fight Regressives hell bent on killing the 2nd amendment flat out.
Justified posted on 2018-12-21 13:09:36 Reply Private Reply
#8: Deckard To: Justified (#7)
This technique increases the rate of fire, but the rifle is still shooting just one round for each function of the trigger.
This is a loser argument. You do all of us on the pro 2nd amendment side a disservice ...
If Obama had pulled a stunt like this or said the words, "take the guns first, go through due process second", you'd scream bloody murder - when Trump does it, he's protecting the 2nd amendment.
At least according to you cultists.
Deckard posted on 2018-12-21 17:02:56 Reply Private Reply
#9: GrandIsland To: Deckard (#8)
That’s what I thought... you do nothing but complain about the (R)’s, stay silent about the (D)’s... and brag about what your presidential choice MIGHT HAVE DONE.
lol. Fuck off, junior.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-12-21 17:10:17 Reply Private Reply
#10: Hondo68 To: Deckard, Cult of NYC Trumpkin libtards (#8)
Cultist bump!
It's all OK when Donny Trumpkin does it, F' the rule of law and US Constitution, 2A. /s
Hondo68 posted on 2018-12-21 17:10:54 Reply Private Reply
#11: Justified To: Deckard (#8)
You pull the trigger and it will not stop shooting until you remove it. This trick was a way to get around the autoband. Im sorry but it converts a semiauto into a fullauto. Twist things any way that makes you feel good but it was doomed from the start and anyone that is honest knows it.
You are wasting ammo on a dead carcass. Why?
This all about I hate Trump and want to bash him every chance I get. That is what this is all about. Just like the left bash Trump for leaving Syria. Also people on the right who opposed Syria intervention now bashing Trump for leaving Syria. It shows peoples colors!
Justified posted on 2018-12-22 16:01:50 Reply Private Reply