In the aftermath of the Las Vegas spree killing, the NRA is calling for the ATF to regulate bump fire stocks. No doubt the NRA Powers That Be figured that making them an NFA item was threading the needle: defanging the statists howling for gun control (again, still) while appeasing members who aren’t happy with any gun control legislation. The problem being . . .
gun control advocates are never satisfied, and even NRA members who think “who the hell needs a bump fire stock?” wonder what they’re going to get for giving in to the antis.
Namely, nothing.
Congressman Paul Ryan pulled the silencer-deregulating SHARE Act days after the Mandalay Bay slaughter. And while the NRA’s statement throwing bump fire stocks in the ATF bus called for Congress to take up national reciprocity, the silence on that bill is deafening.
Worse, the media and gun control advocates consider the ATF aspect of the NRA’s recommendation irrelevant. As far as they’re concerned, the NRA has cleared the way for legislation banning the devices. Full stop. They’re not wrong.
It’s going to be a horrible precedent: the first new federal gun control law in more than a decade. A law that could lead to federal investigations and firearms confiscations and God knows what else.
No wonder 2A absolutists like Tim at the Military Arms Channel are livid. More than a few have resigned their membership and sent the NRA an impolitely-worded email. Now that the NRA has tossed gun control advocates a tasty bone, have you given up on America’s oldest civil rights group?