That’s one. Well, actually two, now, since getting rid of Chris Cox was another of my conditions.
Seriously. Fire Wayne LaPierre. Chris Cox, too.
Then repudiate ERPOs and bump-fire bans. Apologize for opposing constitutional carry, for helping draft “assault weapons” bans, and endorsing obviously anti-human/civil rights politicians. Hell, apologize for supporting NFA ’34, GCA ’68, FOPA ’86, et cetera (it’s a long list).
And I’ll at least think about maybe joining.
I don’t expect them to actually apologize for all that, but then I expected E-Veep-For-Life LaPierre to die in office.
And it’s a minor thing, pertinent only to me, but I’d like them to either give me the magazine back issues I missed when they kept canceling my membership in the ’90s and sending me membership renewal notices, or refund me for the years of a five-year membership they disappeared. That and the city “assault weapon” ban that the NRA wrote were the final straws. It’s sort of a toss-up whether I quit or they canceled me again.
Well, his resignation is effective January 31. I guess we should watch to see how much more damage he can do on the way out.
Basically, it’s a 3D-printed crossbolt safety, instead of the familiar rotating lever. I actually kinda like crossbolt safeties, and might be interested in trying this on an AR just to see if I could get used to it (after forty plus years of M-16s and AR-pattern semiautos).
But that’s not really the truly fascinating part of the Super Safety; it’s the “active trigger system” aspect.
This might sound like a digression, but it isn’t. You may recall the Rare Breed Triggers FRT-15, the forced reset trigger loathed and banned by ATF determination. Pull the trigger, fire a round, and the bolt moving forward again actively forces the trigger to reset forward. If you maintain trigger pressure after firing (rather than manually releasing the trigger), you can immediately press the trigger, firing quite rapidly. It isn’t something I need, but for expensive range fun and certain specialized field situations, it could be handy. The ATF naturally –being the unconstitutional scumbags they are — immediately “determined” that the FRT-15, and other similar devices are machineguns. And, oops, manufactured after May 1986, so no forced reset devices for you. The ATF applied the same pseudo-logic from their bump stock ban, where they redefine “single operation of the trigger” to actually mean “single manual, volitional movement of the finger.”
That wasn’t a digression because Hoffman Tactical’s Super Safety has three switch positions: safe, ready… and right in the middle… forced reset. Yep, albeit with a different mechanism, it can accomplish the same trigger reset as the FRT-15.
You might be wondering why this isn’t covered by the same FRT-15 rule that the ATF used to go after Rare Breed Triggers and Wide-Open Triggers.
There is no such rule. The ATF used a mere “determination letter.” Tim, at Hoffman Tactical noted, “The ATF has not made a proper regulatory determination in regards to forced reset triggers. If that changes, then our intentions may be altered.”
To shut down the Super Safety, the ATF — using their current process — would need to obtain a Super Safety, inspect it, and determine that it specifically is a “machinegun.” Just like they did to Rare Breed.
At which point, Hoffman Tactical need only not 3D-print a Super Safety, leaving the ATF to redefine itself as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, and Computer Code. Which hasn’t gone well for the the feds in their fight with Defense Distributed over Ghost Gunner CNC mill computer code.
Or the ATF could just keep blasting out individual determination letters, like shot from a shotgun, every time someone clever comes up with yet another forced rest system. At which time, the innovators just generate yet another forced reset system (I’m thinking a modified bolt carrier group). Lather, rinse, repeat.
Alternatively, the ATF could promulgate another rule generally declaring any forced reset device to be a machinegun, and go after the smart folks automatically. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the ATF can legally make any such regulatory determination. That would require legislative action, not fiats from bureaucrats (FRT-15, unfinished frames/receivers, pistol braces, bump stocks, open-bolt semi-autos, etc). Thus far, the ATF has been relying on Chevron deference to get away with reinterpreting laws for its own benefit.
Right now, Chevron deference is in serious trouble. And several courts are noting that Chevron deference is only supposed to apply to civil law, not criminal law with criminal penalties. If LOPER BRIGHT ENTERPRISES v. RAIMONDO tosses deference, then a large swath of ATF rules will be ripe for toppling.
Would the ATF then simply go back to individual determination letters? (At least they might be too busy with paperwork to kick in doors and stomp kittens.)The fact is that even determination letters of the sort used for forced rest, bumpstocks, and pistol braces still rely on deference to allow them to redefine words.
Deference is on thin ice. It is used by courts to “defer” to bureaucrats in cases where the law is so vague that even the court can’t decide what the devil the lawmakers were trying to do; so they leave it up to the unelected bureaucrats. That’s lazy, and that’s wrong.
If a statute really is that vague, then it is unconstitutionally vague and must be voided. If the statute is clear, then the bureaucrats have no business “interpreting” it, to expand their power.
It’s a binary solution set: Either the law means exactly what it says, no more, no less; or the law is void for vagueness.
The ATF might find it a little harder to make “determinations” that your neat gadget violates an unconstitutional and voided law.
I wish Hoffman Tactical the best in the inevitable legal conflict with the ATF goons.
Reminding gun owners what he did for the protection of the Second Amendment and pledging to do much more, former President Donald Trump closed the National Rifle Association’s main event Friday with a stemwinder that brought the crowd to its feet.
What he did for 2A protection? Lessee…
He did roll back a bizarre interpretation of 3D printer files as munitions (something that report falsely characterizes as “banning 3D-printed guns”). And he reversed the VA’s blatantly unconstitutional and illegal reporting of people to NICS. I’ll give him those.
On the other hand, he also signed Fix NICS, prompting states to arbitrarily convert more people into prohibited persons and felons.
And there was that Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appointee who thinks, “the Second Amendment has no application to state laws.” What could possibly go wrong?
Even more damaging, he magically turned inert pieces plastic into machineguns, by executive fiat. That did more damage to 2A-protected rights than any Dim president had managed in decades. Estimates vary, but turned tens to hundreds of thousands of people into unindicted felons. And more than a few indicted and convicted.
Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda cool. Well, Trump did used to be a Dimocrat.
He established the precedent that federal bureaucrats are free to redefine words at will, without enabling legislation, to call any damned thing they want “machineguns.” And the ATF immediately ran with it; they live for this… excrement.
The Rare Breed Triggers FRT-15 trigger group, which requires the trigger be pulled for each round fired, suddenly became a “machinegun,” by using the exact same “logic” of “operation of operation of the trigger” really meaning “volitional movement of the finger. Oops; more newly-minted felons.
On a roll with redefining words, they came for pictures. Yep, thanks to Trump’s precedent, the ATF decided that line drawings of unassembled pieces of lightning links really are machineguns. A couple of folks are on trial for that even now, including a guy who let people run ads for the Auto Keycard, but never even sold them himself.
The Trump precedential damage continued with braced pistols becoming short-barrel rifles, after they specifically were not. But at least they gave you the options of begging permission to pay for the privilege of keeping them, or self-incriminating and hoping they’d make an exception for you. More felons.
And he’s “pledging to do much more?” While didn’t act on them before, Trump has supported no-due process red flag orders, raising the age to buy any firearm to 21, and an “assault weapon” ban. Is that the “more” he’s promising? If the Dims were paying attention, they’d nominate Trump themselves over Xiden.
On the bright side, Trump’s Supreme Court picks might… might eventually repair the damage he did to the Second Amendment. But his actions will still cost us millions of dollars in legal expenses, endless man hours, and hard work — not to mention the harm done to plaintiffs and improperly charged defendants — to get the Court to reverse him. (And note that the brilliant BRUEN decision was not written by a Trump appointee.)
If it were just his SCOTUS picks, economic work, and the incredible Abraham Accords, I’d be happy to see Trump elected again. But the man has zero impulse control on Second Amendment issues; he can demonstrably be panicked into rash action by any high profile incident.
And we have to live with his impulses.
Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, site hosting and SSL certificate, new 2021 model hip, and general life expenses. Gab Pay link
(More Tip Jar Options)
As I’ve mentioned before, in some ways I see a national divorce as potentially the only way to salvage part of America as we know and love her. Barring of course appealing to Gov Ron DeSantis to come in and begin administration of the states that want that, as opposed to those who are upset by M&Ms with shoes.
But if Gov. DeSantis responds to the requests of other red states with inadequate governors to go in and help restore American values such as one set of rule and laws for everyone as well as equal enforcement, limited small government, actual classroom lessons in STEM and real American history, just be aware Ukraine will be sending money and possibly troops to prevent the “invasion”. Just as our government has done to the people in the Donbas region. Russia will laugh her tail off.
So, short of asking Gov. DeSantis for help, let’s look at a couple of interesting thing. First up, she’s a 10…th…Amendment.
The Tenth Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The anti-commandeering clause says that the federal government can not compel local governments to enforce their tyranny. Some ATF examples from 2007 Office of Inspector Generals report involving egregious acts from just Richmond, Virginia, from May 2004 through August 2005.
The first hearing presented testimony from four witnesses who alleged that ATF agents used aggressive and harassing techniques primarily at a gun show held on August 13 and 14, 2005, at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. Three of the witnesses were present at the gun show: the gun show promoter, a gun salesman who worked for a federally licensed dealer but represented him self as a private seller at the show, and a federally licensed dealer who had exhibited his firearms collection for sale at the Richmond gun show. The fourth witness was a private investigator who was hired by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to conduct an investigation o f ATF enforcement activity at the August 2005 gun show. The witnesses alleged that ATF Special Agents and state and local police interrogated and intimidated gun buyers, targeted women and minorities as potential straw purchasers, visited the homes of buyers to verify their addresses, and detained some gun buyers after they left the gun show and seized their weapons without cause.
Showed.Up.At.Gun Buyers.Homes.
But they’re better now, right? From a forum post:
This is a scary but true PSA , the ATF requested a table in the entrance area of a gun show today in Ft. Wayne, 5 agents in full ATF regalia met patrons as they entered our show.
I did not interact with said ATF nor do I recall seeing there presence in the show, I was a vendor, back in a corner selling gunsmithing tools, but none the less the ATF was there, in force.
One guy I know well did interact with these agents, asking the agents to explain a certain law to him, the ATF declined because, they, the ATF could not understand the language nor the depth/ limit of the laws scope……isn’t that scary!!
To the best of my knowledge the ATF did not ask for ID no inspect any guns, but I am certain they were there as part of there “we hate you , you don’t deserve the protection of the constitution ” thug squad.
And then there is the “let’s take the jackboots on the road” show, and this is where the anti-commandeering part comes in as well.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Multiple Arkansas sheriff’s offices are pushing back against a new gun policy from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, (ATF).
This new federal rule states that those who use a “brace stabilizer” attachment will have to register their weapons with the government.
Gun control groups support the new policy, but not everyone agrees.
Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long and the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office shared that their offices would not assist the federal government in enforcing this policy.
A Washington state sheriff recently advised residents in his county that if agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) come to their homes without a search warrant asking to inspect their firearms, they can tell them to leave their property.
Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer said in a press statement on Friday that agents are “making surprise home visits of persons who have purchased two or more firearms at one time. To my knowledge, these ATF visits have not occurred in Washington State yet.”
So until the corrupt BATFE can be defunded, or rebuilt, this might help keep citizens a bit safer from them.
May I just point out, the left already does this and thinks it’s peachy keen. Sanctuary cities, do they deport illegals or work with ICE? The federal government still has laws against pot, and yet many states don’t enforce them, let along allow local law enforcement to do so. Basically no undocumented doobie will be deported.
Let’s extrapolate this. Let’s start with something that had should never have been started, Covid. What if each county or city had not been greedy to take the federal bucks that came with covid and had refused to follow the federal mandates? No lockdowns, no business killing policies that only helped the big Dim mega-donors like Bezos? No paper burqas, no healthcare workers still trapped in the CO2 retaining masks because they have a desire to help people. I know, irony abounds. The CDC guide lines from the lying Walensky may cause hypercapnia. Confusion is always a good thing to look for in your healthcare workers, right? And all for no good reason as even the lying Fauxci had to admit under oath to the mighty AG from Missouri (now Senator) Eric Schmitt, that there are no studies showing masks work. So that would mean no police raiding struggling restaurants, no police or security dragging un-masked mothers sitting alone on bleachers off in handcuffs, and Stephanie Warriner would still be alive. Canadian judge drops charges on hospital security guards in Stephanie Warriner asphyxiation death, new video shows them slamming her into wall
This poor tiny young woman had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. She couldn’t breath with the mask on. She made a grave error in judgment. She went to a Canadian hospital, where they murdered her. She was “wearing her mask too low” as she was trying to breath, and the idiot security guards who have as many brains between them as Ashli Babbit’s murderer Michael Byrd killed her. Great job guys, you would have a bright future with the Metro PD. May they die horrible deaths as they gasp for breath.
The guards initially claimed that they were assaulted by the frail woman suffering from COPD, but it was later found that the guards lied. “Mr. Hutley went as far as to claim that Ms. Warriner delivered several overhand and underhand punches to Ms. Rojas-Silva’s face and was kicking her feet,” says a court document by the Crown.
“Later on, Mr. Hutley began sobbing and admitted he had not been truthful in the report, saying ‘I’m sorry. I would have never said the things I said in there if I knew there was a video,'” the court document says.
Yes, I’m pissed.
But these are policies that are enforced because of the government guidelines. And granted the communist country of Canada has no Constitution or 10th Amendment under dear leader Turdo.
But imagine if every county in each state were responsible for evaluating federal guidelines and deciding to accept or reject them and no local law-enforcement was to be utilized in their enforcement. Local politicians are subject to re-election, unelected bureaucrats, not so much. They just go on to make lots of royalties with their wife in charge of ethics for their department. Sounds legit.
Things might look very different. Thousands of small businesses might still be around.
A friend of mine from Missouri sent me something interesting that could be helpful as well. It involves how a state’s constitution is amended and ballot initiatives. This example is from Missouri, but other states may do things differently.
Currently, it takes only a simple majority statewide vote of the people to ratify a proposed amendment and those votes can all come from a relatively small geographic area. Which means in their recent vote to allow legalized pot, it passed. And how did it pass in a red state like Missouri?
Because high crime, demoncrat controlled areas voted for it. Tyranny of the majority as he calls it. But the majority of counties do not want it.
One of the proposed solutions was needing a vote of 2/3 to pass a ballot initiative, but that meant that the populated areas could nix it sending it to the courts, then you have the courts ruling over things. This is what you see in Israel. The Knesset passes a law, the totally left-wing Supreme Court says no. And the people’s elected representatives are dead in the water. There is currently a battle in Israel over this, in the American media it’s called “Israel’s democracy is dead”. Right, because when the people’s elected representatives can’t pass laws the people want it’s a good thing according to the left. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366376 So no need to reinvent the wheel, we know this doesn’t work out well.
So that brings me to the second item, besides not press-ganging our local officials or law-enforcement into service of the federal leviathan. This idea comes from Missouri First. Um, so did the pot graphic, I shamelessly swiped it. It’s called the Concurrent Majority Ratification. A majority of voters, statewide will have to vote “yes” AND ALSO
A majority of voters in each of more than half the 163 state House districts would have to vote “yes.”
Pretty clever eh? He points out it is very consistent with other areas of government.
States vote to ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution – we don’t take a national popular vote.
The Electoral College – we don’t elect the president by a national popular vote.
Two U.S. Senators per state, no matter the size of the state.
Bicameral legislatures.
Members of the House of Representatives (both U.S. and state) represent geographic districts.
So, will we end up with a National divorce? I don’t know, but if states begin to utilize the 10th Amendment and especially the anti-commandeering clause more as well as looking at amending state constitutions to reflect traditional laws perhaps it could be avoided. Although I still suspect there will be areas that are going to break off. The demoncrats have so polarized and divided the country I’m not sure we share much of anything anymore.
The federal government relies heavily on state cooperation to implement and enforce almost all of its laws, regulations and acts. By simply withdrawing this necessary cooperation, states and localities can nullify many federal actions in effect. As noted by the National Governors’ Association during the partial government shutdown of 2013, “states are partners with the federal government on most federal programs.”
Partnerships don’t work too well when half the team quits. By withdrawing all resources and participation in federal law enforcement efforts and program implementation, states, and even local governments, can effectively bring the federal actions to an end.
I’m human. When I’m right, I like to brag as much as anyone else. And sometimes that means going full-blown “I told you so.”
The Fifthth Circuit ruling in Cargill v. Garland is one of those times. The Fifth overturned the lower court which had found that the ATF’s bump stock (bump stock type device) ban-through-redefining-them-as-machineguns was lawful.
How right was I? This right.
Deference
I noted that Chevron deference 1) only applies when a statute is vague, and 2) should not apply to criminal penalties, only civil. The Fifth agrees with me.
A plain reading of the statutory language, paired with close consideration of the mechanics of a semi-automatic firearm, reveals that a bump stock is excluded from the technical definition of “machinegun” set forth in the Gun Control Act and National Firearms Act.
[…]
Because we hold that the statute is unambiguous, Chevron deference does not apply even if the Chevron framework does.
Usurping Power of Congress
Congress makes laws, and the President signs them into effect. Hopped up, unelected bureaucrats do not. Again, the Fifth Circuit says I’m correct.
Of the sixteen members of our court, thirteen of us agree that an act of Congress is required to prohibit bump stocks, and that we therefore must reverse.
Redefining Trigger To Mean Finger
I pointed out that applying the definition of “function of the trigger to — volitional! — movement of the finger was a semantic nightmare that only made sense to politically driven tyrants who don’t give a damn about actual law. The Fifth Circuit… Yep.
The statutory definition of machinegun utilizes a grammatical construction that ties the definition to the movement of the trigger itself, and not the movement of a trigger finger.
The Court did not get into my point that the bump stock rule-making process violated the Administrative Procedures Act, but given that they found the rule itself is outright wrong, the additional flawed process implementing it was moot.
Since we have a Circuit split on bump stocks, maybe SCOTUS will finally grant cert and hear a case on the ban. I would love to read what Justice Thomas might have to say abou itt; his BRUEN decision was brilliant.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion; when I saw that, I knew it was going to good. He goes into history in surprising detail. This opinion could be used as an American history textbook for a complete school year.
Thomas could create another year of lessons on this one: legislative process and history.
Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, site hosting and SSL certificate, new 2021 model hip, and general life expenses. Gab Pay link
(More Tip Jar Options)
A recession is traditionally defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline.
Who cares what traditional definitions are when you’re a statist thug grabbing more power? This may be new to The Georgia Star News, but it’s business as usual for gun owners.
Fingers became triggers and bump-stocks became machineguns. Hell’s bells, they even redefined “volitional” (not to mention magically finding the very word in the law that doesn’t actually include it).
Braces were braces, until they became stocks and pistols became rifles, and paper weights became firearms.
Hey, remember when the ATF also decided that airsoft guns are machineguns, too? Honestly, what isn’t a machinegun anymore? Well, shoestrings for now; although they were, until the ATF revoked that determination after a few years of ridicule.
That’s not even a complete listing. The ATF — unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats — routinely reinterpret/redefine/just-plain-“find” laws every time somebody invents something that the elected legislators didn’t think of: orthogonal rifling, slide/frame semiautos, and more.
Some of us, who bothered to notice, have been warning for years of the dangers of unelected bureaucrats changing definitions to suit themselves and enslave Americans.
Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, site hosting and SSL certificate, new 2021 model hip, and general life expenses. Click here to donate via PayPal.
(More Tip Jar Options)
Gun Owners of America, Inc. v. Garland, GOA’s bump-fire stock case brought about an interesting development. The Department of Justice sent the court a letter in response to a request about the meaning of “can be readily restored to shoot.”
Violence enabling lawyers who claim that the existence of bump-fire stocks, lightning links, and autosears mean that AR-pattern firearms are machineguns should take note of page 2 of that letter.
In any event, an AR-15 is not a firearm that can be “readily restored” tp fire automatically. An AR-15 — a semiautomatic firearm — is not a weapon that “previously could shoot automatically but will not in [its] present condition.
To be honest, the possibility that courts or the ATF would so rule has concerned me. So I hope the ATF also reads this letter, too. I don’t think we should get too complacent about this, but we can breathe a little easier… for now.
[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]
Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, and general living expenses. Click here to donate via PayPal.
(More Tip Jar Options)
The Machine Gun Nest has pieced together all the elements of a potential semiautomatic rifle ban in 2021. They have discovered the dangerous precedent of allowing the ATF to redefine words to make inanimate bits of plastic into machineguns, paperweights into firearms, and pistols into rifles. Why, all this adds up to making semiautos into machineguns because they’re easily converted.
“What’s going on with gun control right now in 2021?
There’s been much talk at the range recently about the new proposed gun control by the Biden Administration. Many people are perplexed. We get a ton of questions, emails, and phone calls asking, “Will this affect me?”, “What can I do?”, “Why are they doing this?” among others.
[…]
So, where does this all come together?
It’s obvious when you look at what’s happened and what’s been proposed where the Biden admin is headed for gun control. They are testing the waters right now with these two proposed rule changes, but I guarantee this is not the end. These current ideas have been taken right from the David Chipman “Legal and Lethal” playbook. There’s a part where Chipman writes this about semi-automatic rifles
Well, no sh-t, Sherlock. TZP has been warning about this specifically for nearly fours years. We warned about this before the ATF even proposed the bump-fire stock machinegun rule.
We warned you again two years ago, when that very “easily converted” argument was made in court. We warened you repeatedly.
We warned you in 2018 that easily converted to a higher rate of fire would define “machinegun.”
“What’s going on in 2021” maybe wouldn’t have been such a problem if more people had paid attention to what was going on in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. More attention than ridiculing those of us warning about “Bump Stock Hill” anyway.
Speaking only for myself as an individual: There have been many days in recent years when I seriously questioned why I bother with trying to raise awareness of these dangers. This is one of those days. My work seems pretty pointless.
Last year, Rare Breed Triggers introduced their FRT-15 trigger. It’s an innovative device that helps the user of an AR-pattern firearm to fire rapidly. Specifically, the sear forces a reset of the trigger without the operator having to release finger pressure from the trigger. Thus, you maintain pressure, the trigger resets with each shot, and the continuously applied finger pressure operates the trigger again. Clever.
Clever, until the ATF got around to deciding that bump-fire stocks are machineguns, thanks to the devious way they redefined “function of the trigger” really means operation of the finger.
How can the courts rule that “function of the trigger” means volitional movement of a finger? And yet, they have.
In correspondence with Rare Breed Triggers at the time, I wrote:
“I’ve just watched your Vimeo video about the FRT trigger. I must admit, as I watched the animation explaining the operation, all that went through my head was, “My god, they’ve invented the bump TRIGGER. The ATF is going to go nuts.”
The ATF did.
In the new, Trump-induced way of viewing the finger as a firearm component, the simple fact that you still had to manually operate the trigger, means squat. The ATF has classified the FRT-15 trigger as a machinegun.
I warned that the bump-fire precedent was dangerous. And got laughed at. It’s just about a silly toy that no one needs. It doesn’t have anything to do with my stuff. Folks didn’t want to die on “bump stock hill,” when they could put forth their resources towards more important things.
And bump-fire stocks got banned. Now it’s the FRT-15. I expect binary triggers — triggers that fire the firearm on both the pull and the reset — to be next.
Finally, as was attempted in Nevada, the ATF — having decided that bump-fire stocks, forced reset triggers, binary triggers, drop-in autosears, and lightning links are so simple to install in AR-platform firearms that the entire class is “easily converted into machineguns. Meaning they are machineguns, and So sorry; you didn’t register those machineguns before May 1986, so they’re banned. Turn ’em in or go to prison.
Don’t expect to be offered compensation either. That was another bump-fire precedent. We aren’t going to compensate owners who broke the — newly redefined — law.
I’ve been accused of nitpicking, for worrying about obscure rules, laws, and judicial rulings. This is why I do that.
This appears to be a machinegun under current ATF BSTD/AutoGlove/etc rulings. Now, the demo in the video is marked “Military & Police,” so I’m going to assume that it won’t be available to us peons, despite SCOTUS’ Miller ruling. But…
This civilian unit seems to have the same problem. Unlike a normal mechanical binary trigger, which fires one round when the finger pulls the trigger and a second round when the finger allows the trigger to reset, DigiTrigger appears to use the electronics to operate the firing mechanism twice for a single finger operation of the trigger. (see below) That is exactly why the ATF shut down the AutoGlove. The alleged single — “volitional” — operation of the trigger is the basic of the BSTD rule.
Update: I contacted the company. The pull/release (P/R) mode is not burst, but fully simulates P/R: fire on pull, then fire when the finger lets the trigger reset. The DT1.6 digital machinegun I first mentioned is, as I expected, definitely NFA and is under development for the LE/Mil market. No surprise there.
I get it. People want to push the envelope of what they think is legal. But unless they’ve amassed a large pile of legal fund cash, and a herd of good attorneys, with the intent of a serious court challenge to BS ATF determinations and court decisions, all Digital Trigger Technologies is doing is asking for trouble.
If they know what they’re getting into and are willing to go to the mat on this, more power and the best of luck to them
[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]
Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills. And the rabbits need feed. Click here to donate via PayPal.
(More Tip Jar Options)
Jews. Guns. No compromise. No surrender.
Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.