Bumping off the 2nd Amendment: Connecting the dots to confiscation

From now on, the context will be confiscation for any and all Leftist demands on firearms.
It was reported recently that the Trump administration is going to take the law into its own hands to defy logic and ban so called ‘Bump-Stock’ devices. It’s a confounding move that will do nothing to placate the Liberty grabber Left while at the same infuriate the Pro-Liberty Right. The administration is going to redefine the statutory meaning of the term ‘Machine Gun’ away from trigger functionality to an arbitrary definition, subject to change at the whim of the next administration.
In addition to an executive rewrite of existing law that makes a mockery of basic firearm terminology, it also used the fact that these devices didn’t previously exist to justify their surrender or destruction. [Please note the usual disclaimer that any criticism of Trump means that somehow, someway, we wanted Hillary Clinton to win 2 years ago or something].
JD Rucker already addressed some of the issues involved in this ‘Meaningless Gesture’ from the infuriating tribalism of the man’s supporters. Liberty grabbers have already stated that they are going to ‘take a mile’ when he gives the meaningless inch.

A logical prediction of what will happen

There is a scene in the 1993 movie ‘Gettysburg’ that has Sam Elliott in the role of Union cavalry commander Brig. Gen. John Buford predicts the sequence of events if the Confederates had been able to take the high ground during the battle. Guided by logic, he foretold what would have happened.
This same kind of logic can be used to predict what will happen if this bump-stock ban holds up in court. If the government can arbitrarily redefine a firearm as a ‘machine gun’ it will then fall under the auspices of the National Firearms Act [NFA]
Until now, firearms were defined in part by the functionality of the trigger, this would be one trigger pulls for ‘Machine Guns’ and multiple trigger pulls for a semi-automatic firearm. With this distinguishing function eliminated from these devices, the slippery slope will see it applied to any and all semi-automatic firearms.

Connecting the dots: Semi-autos will be deemed ‘Machine guns’ to be regulated out of existence

We’ve already been over this illogical executive overreach Here and Here and Here. The point is that these pieces of plastic do not really convert ‘one trigger pull per shot’ firearms to the functionality ‘one trigger pull, multiple shot’ of a ‘Machine gun’ no matter the linguistic legerdemain. To refresh everyone’s memory, this is the statutory definition of a machine gun as:

The NFA defines “machinegun” 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.”

[Our emphasis]
Bump firing requires multiple functions of the trigger – that is the reality of the situation, no matter the copious amounts of rainbow oil or unicorn droppings spread upon the federal register. Thus, for the non-existent approbation of the Liberty grabber Left, The Trump administration will set the bizarre precedent of turning every semi-automatic into a virtual machine gun. As is usually the case the Left will quickly ignore this ‘compromise’ and push for further restrictions.

Having to jump through hoops just to keep something you already own

They have already stated that they want regulation of AR-15 rifles as that of machine guns here and here.
They’re also mimicking a piece of legislation from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced in 2013.
This would entail:

In order to acquire a machinegun, the transferee and transferor must submit a Form 4 Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm to the ATF. The form requires identifying information about the firearm and personal information about the applicant. The transferee must submit an identifying photograph along with two completed FBI Forms FD-258 fingerprint cards. This information is compiled in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, colloquially known as the NFA registry. The transferee must also pay a $200 tax.

The NFA procedure is also a prohibitive waiting period. The latest ATF data measured the wait time for completion of a Form 4 at seven months, or over 200 days. At certain points in 2016, waits stretched to about a year.

…for the mere purpose of exercising a Constitutional Right.

But wait, there’s more – That isn’t even the worst part of this debacle

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the proposed rule references the fact that it is unlawful to possess a ‘machine gun’ unless it was lawfully possessed prior to the effective date of the statute. Consequently, since these devices did not exist back then, they are prohibited and must be surrendered or destroyed.
Therefore, as we merrily skip down the slippery slope, such arbitrary designations can be applied to other firearms. Since most of these firearms also did not exist before the GCA, the same rule would apply to them and poof! An instant ban on most firearms, just what the Liberty grabbers wanted.

The Takeaway

Thus for the already declared ‘Meaningless Gesture’ we have the distinct possibility of a future President being able to ban most firearms with a little linguistic legerdemain… with all manner of hoops for anyone who wants to keep what they already own.

 Originally published on the NOQ Report