SC Congressman Trey Gowdy (courtesy youtube.com)
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Bump stocks turn semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic weapons,” South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy pronounced on CBS Face the Nation [below]. “Fully automatic weapons are already illegal, so I am fine with doing away with any instrumentality that converts a semiautomatic to a fully automatic.” Wait. What?

Even our pro-gun politicians think that machine guns are illegal? They’re not.

Sure there’s a lot of paperwork involved in purchasing a machine gun. And yes, federal law “bars private individuals from transferring or acquiring machine guns except those lawfully possessed and registered before May 19, 1986.” Which makes them really expensive. But you can legally buy one.

And it’s also true that a bump fire stock does NOT convert a semi-automatic rifle (one shot per trigger squeeze) to fully automatic fire (one trigger press, multiple shots). 

And while we’re examining the truth about guns, I don’t think Trey Gowdy is a particularly compelling pro-gun rights pol. But then who is? Seriously. Who?

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98 COMMENTS

  1. Well, he seems to be joining the choir of RINOs burning all of their bridges on the way out. Thank God he’s leaving office.

    • Republican In Name Only, I too once had delusions that the Republican Party was for small government, individual liberty, spending constraints, and generally conservative ideas. Then I opened my eyes.

      • All the repubeicans care about is big business, and globalism. They don’t care about America, Americans, Individual Liberty or Small Government.

        • Bumpfire?

          That was so last shooting. Well actually last last last shooting.

          Way to stay on top of things Trey.

    • The guys leaving office are doing it now because they know 2018-2020 is going to be a complete shitshow for the right, unfortunately.

    • Very easy to figure out who is a Rino: Republicans who bitch about the Freedom Caucus.

      The moment the Republicans put Trey Gowdy in charge of the the House Oversight Commitee, I knew for sure he was a Rino.

    • 😭😭😭say it ain’t so! Well another previously solid pro gun member of congress has gone the way of the fudd. When we see Rand Paul turn into a fudd is when we will know we are only about two decades away from forever losing our gun rights on a European scale.

  2. Gowdy is a lame duck; he isn’t running for re-election this year. He came on strong when he first arrived in Congress, but they rolled up a newspaper and swatted his behind but good. He’s been an obedient little neutered lapdog ever since. Now he’s leaving Congress for some vague purpose of returning to lawyer work? B.S. I bet they have something on him. Now instead of just wanting his obedience, they want his seat.

    • Jon: But on his way out, he’s still giving leftist/ communist the ammunition they desperately need to continue their unConstitutional opposition to our founding documents. {I cannot accept a Tory-o-crat}.

    • Yeah, I don’t know if they have some leverage on him, or if he’s just so disgusted/frustrated with the state of affairs that he can’t take it any more. Watching him in hearings, it’s got to be hard to take to not only watch gov officials lie to to your face, and then face no punishment for dozens of serious felonies.

      • The man pushed really hard to get Hillary locked up and went after a lot of corruption. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s stepping down after realizing the inaction of the government. Or maybe just doing his own work to get things right.

  3. I mean we have to ban something out of respect for those who died. What is government if it isn’t banning things? No one apparently likes bump stocks, Republican or Democrat, so wave the magic ban wand.

    I haven’t heard that the Parkland shooter had a bump stock, though it doesn’t really matter either way. It shouldn’t make murdering people more illegaler. But apparently we need to DO SOMETHING. Anything.

    I don’t like mustard. Yuck. And mustard gas is a terrible chemical weapon of mass destruction. And mustard has at least 50% of the words from mustard gas in its name. And even though mustard gas hasn’t been used in a domestic attack, it is only a matter of time. Ban mustard now! For Parkland!

  4. Yet another Republican stallion who showed up for office on day one snorting and stomping, and ended up a gelded worthless broken down swayback a handful of years later.

  5. Not to bring religion into this but the Bible tells us not to put our faith in man. I freely & regrettably admit, I did in Trey Gowdy. When I saw him blast these political nitwits on actions that were unconscionable & unconstitutional, I swelled with pride & had him pinned for the next president. I thought I finally was seeing a politician that actually CARED about our Constitution. Never again.
    You let me down Trey. You are now in the category of those that are bought & sold…who think their opinions are what shape our society.

    • The NRA endorsed the ATF banning bump stocks by executive fiat. So maybe Trey knows going after bump stocks will not land him in hot water with the NRA. And he can stay in a positive light for people who like a little bit of freedom, but not too much.

  6. Well, he just accused a million or so gun owners of a felony; don’t let the door hit you, Trey. And get a better haircut. And screw the NRA on thus issue.

  7. Gowdy’s is not a reassuring statement.
    At the same time, bump stocks are not the hill that I want to die on.
    And yet, everyone who has been in this fight has seen the incrementalism of our opponents.

    What way out of this conundrum? Perhaps a Reagan quote.
    “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.”

      • +

        These statements appear un-predicated and unprovoked, leading us to believe that someone must have pictures of him in the barn with farm animals.

    • At the same time, bump stocks are not the hill that I want to die on.

      So what hill would you like to die on? When they ban semi-autos? Bolt actions? Single shot break overs?

  8. It not just RINO republicans.
    Gun owners on TTAG with years of history making comments on this web site supported a bump stock ban after the Vas Legas massacre.

    You don’t have to have an AR15. You can use the hi point carbine a husband gave his wife. She used it to defend herself and their four children when the father was away on business.

    But if you can afford an AR15, then buy one. Steven Williford used his to stop a church attack in Texas.

    If you can afford a machine gun then buy one. I can’t afford a machine gun.
    So I will be purchasing a bump stock for my AR15 that I bought back in November 2017, before the “pro gun” rich white people who have guns their grandfather gave them, ban bump stocks.

    • It not just RINO republicans.
      Gun owners on TTAG with years of history making comments on this web site supported a bump stock ban after the Vas Legas massacre.

      Damn straight Chris. This means to me that they hadn’t fell on a conclusion for a top tier axiom, that freedom is the greater goal. These people, simply aren’t about freedom. They like guns, sure. Freedom? Not so much. If you want to ban bump stocks because you fear what your fellow man “might” do with them, then you are not about freedom. I’m all about maximizing freedom and responsibility. When you maximize responsibility, you maximize freedom. Because your freedom is my responsibility. Because I can vote our freedom away, and because the risks involved in allowing you freedom, is mine. The risk falls on me. So I have to be responsible in burdening the risk and be tolerant of that risk, so that you, can have that freedom. And that is not what these commenters are about. They are gun people that see risk, not freedom.

      You don’t have to have an AR15. You can use the hi point carbine a husband gave his wife. She used it to defend herself and their four children when the father was away on business.

      But if you can afford an AR15, then buy one. Steven Williford used his to stop a church attack in Texas.

      If you can afford a machine gun then buy one. I can’t afford a machine gun.
      So I will be purchasing a bump stock for my AR15 that I bought back in November 2017, before the “pro gun” rich white people who have guns their grandfather gave them, ban bump stocks.

      Exactly. Machine guns should be legal. But machine gun owners were purchased by congress. Congress said, “we will grandfather these in for you, machine gun owners, so you will not complain about our new law that bans their manufacture for civilians.” And sure enough, it passed, with few complaints.

  9. Bump stocks destroy accuracy, and tend make an otherwise perfectly good firearm less reliable, but they aren’t in and of themselves “machine guns”, any more than my belt loops are.

    As far as we know, Paddock didn’t personally use machine guns (legal or illegal) in his Vegas shooting spree, so associating ‘machine guns’ with the carnage created is fundamentally dishonest and misleading.

    Goudy should be ashamed of himself for being duped into perpetuating leftist disinformation, and displaying his woeful and inexcusable ignorance with regard to the very statutes and regulations upon which he is commenting.

    • You need to learn more about full auto weapons. ALL MACHINE GUNS ARE INACCURATE. They are area defense and suppression defense weapons. Some can be more accurate than others. But they will never be more accurate than a single shot or even semi automatic rifle.

      And it is the right of all Americans to own machine guns.
      The civil right to own the same weapons the police and military have is our birth right.

      I will remind everyone it was the Obama administration that sent grenade launchers and M16s to school officials in California. They kept it a secret for months before the story was discovered.

    • BULLSHIT. Machine guns are not inaccurate. Trying to fire them from the hip or shoulder they are. Bump stocks work very well with bi-pods. With the sig-brace people are pushing the limits of what can be done with a “pistol”. Now that we have sustained rates of fire over 400 rounds per minute, people are pushing the limits of what can be done with a AR upper. There is stuff out there now that you can buy that will make Vegas look like amateur hour. If it is ever used it’s going to be 1934 all over again, but much worse.

      • When you say machine guns are “accurate”, are you talking about 35 MOA or 25 MOA or 10 MOA, are you talking about 1 MOA??????

        • And for the M240 (the one that really scares the hell out of me if the ever reopen the registry)

          “Speaking of range and accuracy, the M240 is a superbly accurate gun. With the 240 you aren’t aiming to make a small group, but to suppress and destroy stuff. For example, at a thousand yards we could walk our guns onto a car carcass and hit it all day long. The sound of metal on metal was enough to let us know we were ponyboy golden. We could even knock down man-sized Ivan targets out to 800 yards pretty easily with someone spotting. Remember, this is using iron sights, but we did have a tripod so maybe I’m being a little self flattering.”

          http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/12/daniel-zimmerman/gun-review-m240-machine-gun/

        • And for the M240 (the one that really scares the hell out of me if the ever reopen the registry)

          Well by all means, lets keep that registry closed. Binder is getting scared of what other people “might” do, so we need to make sure nobody has it. It’s like socialism version for guns. Everyone must be reduced to the lowest denominator.

        • We already saw what the Vegas shooter did, or do you think he would have used a bump stock if better options were available without some serious technical know how? Read history. Tommy Guns and BARs got us the NFA. What in the hell do you think would happen once SAWs and light machine guns are available? They have new SAWs that weigh 8 Pounds with quick change barrels and a lightweight M240 that is about 21 pounds.

        • We already saw what the Vegas shooter did, or do you think he would have used a bump stock if better options were available without some serious technical know how?

          He had better options. He could have purchased a machine gun. He could have afforded one, and he was not ineligible to purchase one. Why he chose a bump stock, we’ll never know. That said, if you banned bump stocks, bump stocks are not serious technical know how. A rubber band isn’t serious technical know how. A shoe string isn’t serious technical know how. And if it is a victimless crime, where you have zero means of enforcing it, then you might as well make it legal, and try something else (like working on values, morals, and principles).

        • Read history. Tommy Guns and BARs got us the NFA.

          Disagree. Cowards who neither wanted to fight for their own defense nor embrace the responsibility of risk in allowing other people freedom to possess such devices got us the NFA. Also, the alcohol prohibition got us the NFA because the totalitarian government thought they should regulate that too. And alcohol gangsters arose out of that. And the gun regulations did not quell the alcohol gangsters. Repeal of the alcohol ban and a move to make stricter law enforcement did.

          What in the hell do you think would happen once SAWs and light machine guns are available? They have new SAWs that weigh 8 Pounds with quick change barrels and a lightweight M240 that is about 21 pounds.

          Pretty much nothing. Kind of like when concealed carry was advertises as an armegeddon that would result in blood in the streets everywhere, but nothing happened. Now would mass shooters use them? Maybe may not. Many of the mass shooters like Cho and other used nothing but a pistol. When targets are sparse and not clumped together, a semi-auto is better in maximizing carnage. A machine gun would be better for dense crowds. That said, banning guns (semi-or auto) isn’t the answer. The problem lies in the hearts of tortured people filled with malice with intent to do harm. And they will get creative and seek other methods if you try to box them in. And gun control doesn’t quell the malice in the hearts of those with intent to do harm. And boxing them in doesn’t just box them in, it boxes all of us in too. Because the law doesn’t just apply to them, it applies to us all. If you need to fill out forms and go through a background check to buy matches, or gasoline, or fertilizer at the store, that would likely cause more contempt, more resentment, and more conflict and more mass shootings/killings, than going after the root problem.

          But in all honesty a person’s rights shouldn’t be predicated on what they “might” do. There are lots of things that I could do, that are far far worse than buying a machine gun and shooting into a crowd. So it’s important to address the root problem and preserve the freedom. Removing the freedom in efforts to quell the problem, leaves the underlying rotten malice festering within. It’s a like a bandaid covering it up.

      • Thanks for the videos!
        As I stated above I will be buying a bump stock for my AR15 that I bought in Nov 2017. I didn’t know a bi pod would be helpful as well.

        When I was in the Army firing the M60 mounted was more accurate, than firing from the hip. I was primarily referring to hand held MGs.
        These videos show me the bump stock and bi pod combination is a viable less expensive alternative to a real MG.

        The gun grabbers and the MG collectors are not going to be happy.

    • Actually I have a great deal of hands on experience with automatic weapons, Chris from KY.

      There is a tremendous difference between the way a true automatic weapon handles, and the way a semi-auto equipped with a a bump stock shoots. One is a serious tool, and the other strictly a range toy.

      As another poster remarked, bump stocks are just not the hill upon which I would choose to plant my flag.

      • As another poster remarked, bump stocks are just not the hill upon which I would choose to plant my flag.

        So what hill would you plant your flag on?

        • As stated previously, it is my personal opinion that bump stocks serve to make a firearm less reliable, and less accurate.

          However, they are not “Machine Guns” and therefore I don’t think ATF actually has any business regulating or classifying them as such.

          While Bump Stocks certainly are not machine guns, I do think they will eventually be taken off the market for product liability reasons.

          One way or another, they’re probably history in the not too distant future.

  10. Why do I feel like our rights are being eroded right from under us?
    What hill are we willing to die on? Sure, I think bump stocks are stupid, pointless and a waste of money and ammo but if we don’t make a stand what will be next after a Bump stock ban. Ban AR-15 style weapons, or registration of them AND 30rd magazines?
    Back ground check to buy ammo? It will never stop. This is a Tug-of-war and our side is being pulled into the mud. Rhinos are holding the rope but they ain’t even pulling! the nra keep moving the finish/loser line closer to us. We’re about to get jerked into the mud!
    Some people are already Instant felons because they owned a LEGAL bump stock.
    Keep moving the goal post.

    • They are pro gun people. Not pro-freedom people. That means they are fine with someone banning a gun related item that they don’t care for. And plenty here on TTAG and even the NRA was in that boat.

  11. Gowdy’s comments didn’t come as a surprise. Like many, if not most, professional politicians he’s basically an actor who’s learned to perform his conservative role well enough to repeatedly get elected. But, with politician’s like this—Big John Cornyn are you listening . . . no, of course not—guys like this have long ago abandoned ideology and loyalty for a better paying job, working for the DC progressive/globalist establishment. Oh, he does a pretty good job of sounding conservative, good enough to get himself elected anyway. But that’s not where his loyalties are. This is where the NRA lobbyist’s come in. For decades the NRA has been playing the DC game with these kinds of politicians. It is clearly the most effective 2nd amendment gun-rights support organization in recent history.

    There’s a lot of criticism on TTAG about the geezers running the NRA show, but I suggest you recall the anti-gun hysteria that emerged after the Sandy Hook killings. Beginning with Wayne LaPierre’s famous “Good Guy With A Gun” rejoinder, the NRA’s response effectively derailed the most concerted gun-control effort—fully supported by the president of the United States—in history. A good portion of that response involved dealing with completely cynical politicians like Gowdy who for the right price would happily sell our constitutional rights. Simply put, you may not like the NRA, you may not like the geezers running it, but there is simply no other organization out there that is as effective at defending gun rights as the NRA.

    • Well, it’s possible he’s not a POTG. I doubt you can find any politician who is an expert on all topics and areas of Federal law simply due to the magnitude of that monster.

      Of course that doesn’t give him a pass for going on a TV show to talk about something he’s not knowledgeable on and giving the anti’s fodder though.

  12. The problem with Gowdy’s statement, is putting it into law. There is a clear statement defining a machine gun written into law. Hand cranks, bump stocks, the motorized auto glove, and even the akins accelerator (although the last two listed were deemed a machine gun by the ATF), don’t fit that definition. Modifying the law to allow for these, cuts into the freedoms associated with owning and operating semiautomatics.

    Also. Machine guns should be legal. The responsibility of these weapons should be placed upon individual people. The goal should be in encouraging the rise and growth of a responsible people with values, morals, and principles. Not in removing freedoms from the perceived irresponsible. The US needs a populace of high quality people. Not a nanny state governing a bunch of ignorant children who need their freedoms taken from them.

    • Bump stocks use the recoil energy to reset the trigger. Any device that uses energy outside of the operator to manipulate the trigger should be classified as a machine gun. Put a drill on that gat-crank and see if the AFT shows up.

      • Bump stocks use the recoil energy to reset the trigger.

        Bump stocks DO NOT use the recoil energy to reset the trigger. All semi-autos use a trigger spring to reset the trigger when the trigger is released. Further, there is no spring in the bump stock. There is a spring in the Akins accelerator (which the ATF said they would enforce as a machine gun despite that it doesn’t fit the definition). To operate the bump stock you hold the trigger down with your right index finger while pushing forward on the gun with your left hand. So there is no recoil energy used for anything. Further, a bump fired semi-auto can be done with a belt loop or even just losely holding it. Also, a machine gun can be made with a shoe string. So this whole conversation we are having is ridiculous. Machine guns should be legal.

        http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/01/daniel-zimmerman/when-a-shoe-string-is-a-machine-gun/

        • To operate the bump stock you hold the trigger down with your right index finger while pushing forward on the gun with your left hand.
          You can replace your finger with a zip tie. Wen the gun recoils your finger comes off the trigger. Are you moving your finger?

        • To operate the bump stock you hold the trigger down with your right index finger while pushing forward on the gun with your left hand.
          You can replace your finger with a zip tie. Wen the gun recoils your finger comes off the trigger. Are you moving your finger?

          A zip tie? I can replace the receiver with a full auto one that I machined in my garage. Or drop in a lightning link. It would be more reliable and function better too.

          If your point is that my finger is what makes it a machine gun, you are incorrect. The law says “one function of the trigger” NOT “one function of my finger.” Bump fire stocks (and even the akin accelerator, as well as trigger cranks) do not fit that definition. If it fires more than one shot, by one function of the trigger – it is a machine gun. In a bump fire stock, or just holding the gun loosely, the trigger is triggered and reset between each shot. That is NOT one function of the trigger.

          Granted, if you made an akin accelerator and then shot a watermelon in your back yard, the ATF would arrest you, lock you up for 10 years in prison, and you would never be able to adequately protect yourself and your family when you are released from prison, because you couldn’t own any guns, legally, and then we all cheer and call that “justice.”

        • Your definition of mass shooting is different than mine. What is so freaking scary about Vegas is he managed to score 420 hits. The ONLY reason the death toll was 5 times higher was the range and the uppers he was using were not equipped to handle the heat. Change one of the two and you and I would not even be having this conversation. Look I’m not advocating that we ban anything. What we can’t do is put our heads in the sand and hope no one manages to score a 3-4 figure body count.

        • My definition is “any incident in which four or more victims are killed with a firearm within a 24-hour period at a public location in the absence of other criminal activity (robberies, drug deals, gang “turf wars”), military conflict or collective violence.” (The quote is from Grant Duwe). That is a pretty standard definition. There are slight variations that I’m fine with.

          I don’t know your definition.

        • My definition is when they say fuck it and throw the second amended under the bus. What’s your guess? It’s not 50. So what about 100, 300? Yes, we should allow people to buy SAWs and light machine guns, what’s the worse that can happen.

        • My definition is when they say fuck it and throw the second amended under the bus. What’s your guess? It’s not 50. So what about 100, 300? Yes, we should allow people to buy SAWs and light machine guns, what’s the worse that can happen.

          Why would they need to when we have you here telling us what we should and shouldn’t have.

          It’s like – let’s ban these guns so they won’t ban the guns I like. Then tomorrow, it will be: let’s ban these guns because they are coming after the types of guns I like. Then the day after when you can only own single shot breaker overs, you’ll say: maybe I shouldn’t have capitulated to their requests at a whim.

          They already have machine guns banned, and have cemented that idea in the public eye (You and Gowdy are proof of that). And today they are working on bump stocks, but what they don’t realize is it is a lot easier to make a semi-auto a full auto than they think. And when they get that, they will be coming for the types of guns you like and use.

        • Now I haven’t even begun to talk about how easy it is to make a submachine gun, or the lightning link for the AR. A slight modification to the rear end of any commercial m4 bolt and a lightning link:

          https://www.bevfitchett.us/ar15-to-m16-conversion/images/2703_35_37-lightning-link-dimensions.jpg

          Results in this:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjUHmwCtyd0

          So yea. Machine guns should be legal. They are so easy to make, it’s ridiculous. Further,

          Let’s be honest. Nobody should be imprisoned for what they “could” do. Be it have a large creative brain, or the ability to make a machine gun, or having already made a machine gun for the purposes of shooting fruit in their backyard. Shooting fruit in your backyard is a victimless crime. Arresting people with machine guns who shoot fruit in their backyard is a society that says we are going to arrest you, on the basis that we are afraid of you. And nothing more.

      • So what I got from that, is your solution to the problem isn’t the rise of a high quality responsible people, but a nanny state looking to remove freedoms from the perceived irresponsible.

        Got it.

      • If machine guns were legal, the Vegas shooter would have had a M240 and do you think they would still be?

        They should be yea. The solution to our problem isn’t to ban what everyone has that could be dangerous because they are evil and irresponsible. The solution is to work on making a populace that is not evil and not irresponsible.

        • “The solution is to work on making a populace that is not evil and not irresponsible.” Well, if we could do that what exactly would be the point of 2nd amendment?

        • “The solution is to work on making a populace that is not evil and not irresponsible.” Well, if we could do that what exactly would be the point of 2nd amendment?

          If we could do that perfectly (which we never could, perfectly) then the 2nd amendment would be used for entertainment purposes only.

  13. Congressman Gowdy, you sir are a hero in my eyes and still are. However, I don’t agree with you on this one. I have NO use for this POS toy. But to open this door, is just to dangerous.

    • I’d be willing to compromise on bumpstocks too if we got the better end of the deal, but no one in Congress is offering a compromise.

      Nancy Pelosi’s definition of compromise is not getting everything she wants. She literally said this. I can’t remember if it was bumpstocks or FixNICS.

  14. The “bump-stock” spasm is the “assault rifle” ban II, electric boogaloo. The politics are interesting, and ultimately bad for gun-banners, if what’s going on is visible.

    “Bump-stock” is an ill-defined term, an invitation for abuse, which if it can be included in the laws we have, should have already been included in the laws we have. Going for it is obviously reactive, and transparently cynical. The ATF is on a dilemma — if they can do this, why didn’t they do this already? If they can’t, why can they do it now, with no change in the law. (When an agency sees something it “should” be able to do, not authorized by the law, perhaps the agency should request legislation authorizing that. Rather than, say, sneaking some power-grab through a “regulation” or if that’s too hard “guidance.” It is a dream I have.)

    Going after “bump-stocks” is the same kind of incremental erosion as the assault weapons ban — ill-conceived and ultimately ineffective — which *if visible* will create the same kind of backlash. The kicker in every assault weapons ban proposal after they had one is: “We did that, and it didn’t help. Why are you doing this again?”

    • Bump stocks use the energy of firearms to reset the trigger. Just add to the definition of a machine gun anything that uses energy that is not provided by the shooter to manipulate the trigger and that the action of of the trigger requires activation AND reset by the shooter using two distinct actions. FYI this will also kill binary and crank triggers.

      • Why bother? Just write a law that says all pistols and revolvers are banned, and any firearm that can be fired without manual manipulation of the bolt between shots is banned.

        There we go. Isn’t that so much better than your suggestion??? I think it is. I mean, if society is going to play the game titled “I’m afraid of what you will do with the things you possess. Then why stop there?

        And don’t even think about playing the mentally retarded nuclear bomb card. You need a giant laboratory with a hundred or more employees and millions upon millions of dollars in equipment just to get started on refining your yellow cake.

  15. I’m glad he isn’t seeking reelection. I just wish that supposed lawyers and Congressman understood the Constitution and not just what some other lawyer said 50 years ago…

    • “and not just what some other lawyer said 50 years ago” This is the better half of what is wrong with the judicial system.

  16. he is not liking bump fire stock he say machine gun are sick bird he looks like woman could make him cry who is man that looks afraid this one does not like man in photograph

  17. Even our pro-gun politicians think that machine guns are illegal? They’re not.

    They are prohibitively expensive for the bourgeoisie and lesser class. It is essentially a defacto ban.

    Probably everyone in congress could afford one though. The vegas shooter could definitely afford one, but he didn’t buy one. Instead he bought a large sum of semi-automatics and bump stocks, because either him or the cosmos determined that helps the gun control effort. Already unavailable machine guns? Not so much.

  18. Mass shootings are horrible and everyone looks for a solution. The easiest solution for many is to take the tools of such an action out of the hands of those who might commit such horror. The problem here is that a firearm or a truck or a bomb is not the problem and if you do decide to restrict anything you don’t trust your fellow citizen with, then you will end up with the death of our free society and democracy. What you are saying is that NO ONE in our society can be trusted with tools that can cause death to another. Soon you live in a police state where only a trusted few had any freedom at all. What needs to happen is for all of us to take some responsibility to report those among us who are mentally ill. We need a system to refer those who send out notices that they intend to do harm for evaluation by experts who then can refer cases to a court of law and if needed action can then be taken to restrict to rights of those found mentally ill. To say in a social media outlet that you want to be a ‘professional school shooter’ and have your class mates, friends and family do NOTHING is what is criminal. I see why the kids in this school want another solution. They can say the DID SOMETHING, but the fact is it’s all feel good. If they want to do something they need to care enough for those who are mentally ill to take action before there is a mass shooting, or bombing or other disaster.

    I have been an NRA instructor, competitive shooter, gun collector for over 40 years and not ONE of my firearms has caused me to commit a crime. It’s not the firearms, but the HUMAN that commits these crimes and that is were the solution must be.

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