Posted on 07/07/2016 1:18:51 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
California, which in 1989 became the first state to ban so-called assault weapons, has expanded that category twice since then: in 1999, when the legislature added a generic definition to the original list of specifically proscribed models, and last week, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill aimed at a device that legally circumvented the ban. With the ink barely dry on the new law, another workaround is already available.
The 1999 law covered any semiautomatic centrefire rifle with a detachable magazine and any of six "military-style" features: 1) a flash suppressor, 2) a grenade launcher or flare launcher, 3) a thumbhole stock, 4) a folding or telescoping stock, 5) a forward pistol grip, or 6) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. But regulations issued by the California Department of Justice defined "detachable magazine" as "any ammunition feeding device that can be removed readily from the firearm with neither disassembly of the firearm action nor use of a tool being required." The regulations specifically said "a bullet or ammunition cartridge is considered a tool," which left the door open to "bullet buttons" that release the magazine when you insert a cartridge into them. Since guns with bullet buttons did not technically have detachable magazines, they could legally include the features that offended the sensibilities of California legislators.
Gun controllers saw that creative solution as an outrageous loophole, which they sought to close with S.B. 880 (a.k.a. A.B. 1135). The new law makes any of the six detested features illegal on a gun "that does not have a fixed magazine," and it defines "fixed magazine" as "an ammunition feeding device contained in, or permanently attached to, a firearm in such a manner that the device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action." Enter the Bullet Button Reloaded, a.k.a. the Patriot Mag Release, which allows removal of the magazine only when the rifle is opened, thereby disassembling the firearm action, as demonstrated by inventor Darin Prince in this video:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Prince, who describes himself as "the inventor of the original bullet button," says, "We have had the BB Reloaded in the wings for many years," which suggests entrepreneurs are at least a step ahead of gun prohibitionists. "The Bullet-Button Reloaded is hardly ideal," writes Dan Zimmerman at The Truth About Guns. "AR owners will have to release the rear pin on their rifle and tilt the upper receiver forward in order to drop the (10-round) magazine. But it's at least an option for keeping and continuing to use your long gun legally."
Zimmerman says "the moral of the story" is "there's almost always a way, and some enterprising individual will find it." More specifically, Prince's invention once again demonstrates the futility of trying to reduce gun violence by banning arbitrarily defined categories of supposedly intolerable firearms. Every time legislators pass an "assault weapon" ban, its supporters complain that the firearms industry is complying with it by making functionally unimportant changes. They think that's an indictment of sneaky gun makers; it is actually an indictment of misguided legislators.
I so do not miss California!!!!
I’m sure there is a way to retrofit some sort of stripper clip mechanism.
Get to the drawing board !
But if you’re going that in-depth then what you’ve created a completely new firearm.
Also, when the LEO come for these rifles, when are we actually going to start saying no ?
Like... In scary terms saying no.
I’ve never felt safe whenever I had to crew a flight to San Francisco . I stay at airport hotels until I fly out.
Hard to tell. I don’t know how many that registered their “assault weapons” with the state would willingly turn them in and how many would wait for them to try to come and get them. I have read that other states with mandatory registration laws have less than 10% compliance.
The question is this: How many won’t surrender them and won’t wait for them to try to seize them? Will it be the start of Revolutionary War II.
Profit - Fertilizer for innovation.
Nice idea. My drill instructor (USAF), fifty years ago, said that if you pull the pin to break open the rifle, DO NOT let the upper flip down and hit the lower as this could break the hinge off the rifle. Maybe some type of foam rubber buffer in case your hold on the upper slips.
True.
mark.
The biggest problem I’ve ever seen with the concept of open revolution is that it means shooting at police officers.
I wouldn’t even discuss such a thing on FR. This is the only thing that terrifies me about a civil war.
Many police are even politically aligned with us but the badge, and the SOP of the department will make them choose between enforcement or imprisonment. Even today any cop who has a problem with the SOP won’t do anything about it because of the pension.
Think Serpico.
So I guess that all you Californians who have magazines which hold more than 10 rounds are now criminals if you don’t get rid of them.
I wonder how many owners will be surrendering these magazines?
I’d guess not many.
Hmmm. Bolt open, and you just push a ‘strip load’ into the magazine...maybe even a slot in the bottom of the magazine to continue pushing the strip all the way through.
Ban String!
Do not comply.
DNC run LEOs are very inefficient.
Many (most?) cops won’t willingly place themselves in the line of danger. Think Columbine and Sandy Hook and the Pulse nightclub. The cops waited outside until either they knew the coast was clear or until they could not wait any longer.
Also, not many cops will be willing to go on 3 a.m. raids after a few have been killed by people who won’t get into the cattle cars without a fight.
Or are picked off exiting their cars by roving snipers, long before they get to the door.
A flash suppressor? Good grief, how dangerous are those? What a STUPID liberal joke.
I was down at my local mosque the other day going through some magazines when my gun jammed.
Or a custom magazine (perhaps rotary?) with an easy way to hold back a spring loaded follower, with a stripper clip guide and automatic flap cover. Pull down a follower handle or rotate a follower holdback, strip clips through the flap against no spring tension, release the holdback mechanism which will push the column of cartridges up just like a regular magazine.
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