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Friday, March 29, 2024

Demand For “Bump Fire Stocks” Surge, Prices Double As Fears Of Imminent Ban Mount

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, the Left has predictably ramped up their calls for stricter gun laws with everyone from Chuck Schumer to Lena Dunham suddenly voicing their 'expertise' on everything from "Bump Fire Stocks" to silencers. 

That said, it was perhaps President Trump, a candidate that enjoyed strong support from the NRA throughout the 2016 campaigning season, who most stunned gun owners yesterday when he refused to rule out new restrictions, saying only that "we'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by."

"We have a tragedy. We're going to do — and what happened in Las Vegas, it's in many ways a miracle. The police department has done such an incredible job and we'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.  But I do have to say how quickly the police department was able to get in was really very much of a miracle. They've done an amazing job."

"What happened in Las Vegas is in many ways a miracle:" Trump praises police response says talks on gun laws to come https://t.co/wt38s9fvbT

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 3, 2017

Now, as Bloomberg points out today, the fear of an imminent ban on "bump fire stocks," a simple replacement stock that Steve Paddock allegedly used to turn his semi-automatic weapons fully-automatic, has caused a surge in demand resulting in resale prices nearly doubling overnight.  Meanwhile, the demand surge for one manufacturer's products was so massive it actually crashed their website.

The ATF didn’t reveal the manufacturer of the bump fire stocks police said they found in Paddock’s hotel room. Slide Fire, one of the companies that makes them, was overwhelmed with visitors to its website Wednesday, according to its Facebook page. “I can’t log on the website for some reason? I would like to purchase one,” wrote Robert Lopez Jr. “Probably overloading the website.”

“Need to get me a few before outlawed with the sad news in Vegas,” wrote Facebook user Matt Mclynn. Concerns that the product might no longer be available may have led to a rise in prices for the devices. In a comment on Slide Fire’s Facebook page, another user noted that prices for the devices were increasing on GunBroker.com, which bills itself as the “world’s largest online auction site for firearms and hunting/shooting accessories.” A used Slide Fire SSAR-15 bump stock had amassed eight bids and was selling for $315 on the auction site. The retail price on Slide Fire’s website for a similar device is $179.95, but it was sold out.

So how does a "bump fire stock" work?  Well, for those who haven't received a tutorial directly from Lena Dunham or Chuck Schumer yet, here is a demonstration from Slide Fire:

And here is a look at the product in action:

While fully-automatic weapons have been illegal in the United States since 1986, the ATF confirms that bump fire stocks do not "mechanically alter the function of the firearm to fire fully automatic" and are therefore perfectly legal to own and operate under current laws.…if you can find them.
 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is tasked with deciding whether bump fire stocks are legal under existing federal statute. The classification depends on whether “they mechanically alter the function of the firearm to fire fully automatic,” ATF Special Agent in Charge Jill A. Snyder said during a press conference on Tuesday evening. “Bump fire stocks, while simulating automatic fire, do not actually alter the firearm to fire automatically, making them legal under current federal law.”

A semi-automatic weapon releases one round of ammunition per trigger-pull. A bump fire stock expedites the process. “The user generates a forward activation force that urges the firing unit forwardly so that the trigger collides with the stabilized finger, stimulating the first round of ammunition in the receiver,” states the website of Slide Fire Solutions Inc., one maker of such devices. “A recoil force from the discharging ammunition pushes the firing unit rearwardly so that the trigger separates from the stabilized finger.” Other manufacturers include Bump Fire Systems LLC and Fostech Outdoors LLC.

In less technical terms, the bump fire stock effectively increases the rate of fire of a semi-automatic gun, said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center. “In the case of these bump fires, the ATF has made the determination that the shooter is repeatedly working the trigger. It just makes the gun fire faster but the trigger is being pulled for each round,” she said. A 2010 letter from the ATF notes that “the stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed.”  (The ATF didn’t immediately respond to  a request for comment.)

Of course, that may not be the case for much longer if Senators like Dianne Feinstein get their way. 

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, a Democrat, decried the use of bump fire stocks as a “loophole,” saying Tuesday that she would look into introducing legislation aimed at banning the devices. “The sale and manufacture of automatic weapons have been illegal since 1986. Automatic weapons produced before 1986 are highly regulated and tracked by the ATF,”  Feinstein said in a statement. “A ban on bump fire stocks was included in my 2013 assault weapons bill, and I’m looking at how best to proceed with legislation to finally close this loophole. This is the least we should do in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It should be our highest priority.”

So what say you…will Trump succumb to public pressure and blindside the NRA or will the media slowly transition back to the "Russian Collusion" narrative and allow the talk of new gun laws to slowly fade away?

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