How can a firearm part be “barely legal”? It’s either legal or it isn’t. And all six firearms parts named by The Trace are completely legal. Just ask the ATF. But we thank Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitprop machine for highlighting the slippery slope that the NRA has created by directing the ATF to regulate bump fire stocks off the mass market. Not to mention . . .
the links to suppliers. Here’s The Trace’s “barely”legal sextet:
1. Polymer80 unfinished GLOCK pistol frame
“Because it is sold with excess plastic left in the handle, it doesn’t technically qualify. That means the ATF can’t trace a Polymer80 gun if it is used in a crime. The frames can also be sold without background checks.”
2. SIG SAUER SB15 pistol stabilizing braces
“The brace can also be used as a shoulder stock, steadied by the shooter’s body so they can aim the weapon like a rifle, with their eye right against the sights. Doing so turns the weapon into a short-barreled rifle, a weapon that is more easily concealable than a full size rifle and more powerful than a pistol.
“Short barreled rifles must be registered with the ATF under the National Firearms Act, but because stabilizing braces aren’t designed for rifle-style aiming, guns equipped with the accessory can be sold without registration.”
3. The RONI STAB
“The RONI STAB, like the Sig Sauer SB15, also uses a brace to get around National Firearm Act requirements.
“A company spokesman says in a promotional video that the product is a way to avoid the paperwork, cost, and wait time that come with registering one’s weapon before going on to note that ‘the Roni STAB is intended to be used only as designed.'”
4. The Mossberg Shockwave
“In January, Mossberg released the Shockwave, a “personal defense” shotgun that is half an inch longer than the minimum required length.
“Short barreled shotguns without shoulder stocks and less than 26 inches in length are regulated under the NFA because they are easily concealed, and were favored by criminals at the time of the law’s passage.”
5. The Black Aces Tactical
“Should the owner actually use the brace as a stock, shouldering the weapon when firing, it would technically become an illegal short barreled shotgun, if not first registered with the ATF. The agency regulates shotguns with stocks if the weapon has a barrel shorter than 16 inches.”
6. The Binary Firing System
“The Franklin Armory Binary Firing System doesn’t allow a shooter to fire as fast as with a gun equipped with a bump stock, but it can still double a semiautomatic’s rate of fire. It works by shooting twice for each full cycle of the trigger: once when the shooter pulls the trigger, and again when it is released.”
To paraphrase Martin Niemoller, first they came for the bump stocks . . .
You heard it here first: ceding to the ATF the power to regulate items outside of the letter of the law is an enormous mistake that poses a genuine risk to Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. Any arms.