Posted on 03/23/2018 2:39:34 PM PDT by Simon Green
President Trump on Friday announced that the Department of Justice would issue a new rule banning bump stocks.
In a tweet, Trump announced that he was directing DOJ to reverse a 2010 decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) that classified bump stocks as firearm parts so the devices could be banned under current laws that prohibit owning fully automatic weapons.
Trump blamed the legalization of bump stocks on the Obama administration.
"Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns," Trump tweeted.
The decision Friday follows a letter sent by GOP senators in October urging the administration to review the decision after a mass shooter used the device in killing 58 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas.
Bump stocks are used to modify semi-automatic weapons so they mimic automatic counterparts.
"Unfortunately, we are all now keenly aware of how this device operates and believe that this renewed review and determination will keep our citizens safe and ensure that federal law is enforced," the nine Republicans wrote last year.
Fully automatic weapons have been banned in the U.S. since 1986, but bump stocks were described by the ATF in 2010 as "a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.”
P.S. No, I don’t agree with ANY new (or even many of the old or present) restrictions on our 2A.
I think this is a BAD move. But even this bad move doesn’t make me remove my support from President Trump. I am very disappointed. I hate this. But I know for a fact the others who might have won would be doing far worse.
Trump cares about gun ownership or the budget as much as he cares about going to church on Sundays instead of playing golf. This is not a surprise at all. This is who he has always been.
The budget and gun control Obama WISHED He could have signed off on. The GOP are SOB’s. The DNC has to do very little work to get right back into power.
There is not the slightest doubt that if we had President Cruz right now this nonsense would not be happening, which is more than a little ironic, given how much the Almighty Trumpers hate Cruz. Face the truth, Trumpists, you have been played by a New York statist. And please don’t claim that this is a minor issue. What we have here is a regulatory agency being given the power to make law. The bump fire stock issue is small potatoes in the big picture.
Cruz couldn’t get past the primaries. He couldn’t ignite the votes needed. Support him or not, the votes were not there. Hillary would be President right now if we hadn’t voted for Trump. That is hard facts.
I’m awfully glad my bump stock arrived a couple weeks ago. Now I’m going to buy the 100 round drum tonight to beat them to the punch on that too. Then another AR 15 for them both.
My point is that Cruz, a real conservative, would never cave in such a craven manner. Whether he could have been elected is debatable, what is not debatable is that Trump is doing Feinstein and Hillary’s work for them.
P.S.
I can’t quite remember the issue, but I do remember Cruz saying something very shocking and misguided during the campaign which made me very angry at him. I believe it had something to do with gun rights, but I could be wrong. But he came out during some crisis and he was very vocal in his condemnation. Do you remember it? It was a very big deal and very controversial. Shocked several of us, including me, and took a very long time for me to forgive him(Cruz).
“Get every little thing their way”? Did you see this monstrosity of an omnibus bill that he signed today? Does that seem like a “little thing”? No, we got screwed hard and President Trump was the only one who could have stopped it which is why we put him in office. But he didn’t and we have a right to be outraged.
President Trump could not have stopped that monster. They were going to pass it with our without him.
They could also pass it without the military funding - with or without him. This is not his fault. It is Congress’s fault. It is not what he wanted. It is not what we wanted. It is what Congress wanted. And they have the power and the votes there for this.
I don’t like it any more than you do. But it is true he had little choice and could have come out worse if he even tried to fight it.
The best he could get right now is to go ahead and take the military money. He KNOWS we are on the brink of war and our military is horribly depleted.
Read those last sentences again. That is probably what he is most aware of. And knows that is what he would have been gambling away. The risks or rejecting the bill was immense with little to gain.
Outrage is what keeps people from writing to politicians, voting or joining an organization that defends our Second Amendment. Most conservative voters who post their outrage are useless. Politicians don’t know what their opinions are or that they even exist.
Many very large, Democrat-inclined organizations for government employees and their business partners know that. They make enormous compromises all the way, and take what they want inch by inch, very incrementally. They get each inch by writing directly to political representatives and being paying members of lobby organizations (money).
If he vetoed it and they were able to override the veto, the anger would be directed at them where it should be. But I am not convinced they had the votes to do that. But he basically traded military spending for nearly every promise he made during the campaign.
Gotta agree with this
We are not “on the brink of war,” we have been at war for over a decade. Our military is depleted, but worse is the traitors who lead it. The officer corp is completely corrupted by PC bull and no amount of money will fix that. We are not ready to take on another theater, unless we are ready to break out the green glass. Any further engagements must be matched by a reduction in our current operations.
Let’s be serious a moment: even if we designated the entire federal budget to military purposes, we couldn’t staff it without a draft. I don’t think most people really understand that everyone I known in the service has deployed numerous times and there is literally no reserve left. None.
The material resources are just as bad. Our large equipment is multiple times past its service life and the new platforms are so expensive that we can field only a fraction of the need. We have some great people in the service, but we are approaching Hannibal’s army status: our Senate debates transgender surgery and bun-friendly helmets while our troops pretend a B2 is close-air-support. Do you think a few billion is going to make a difference?
I’m not anti-Trump, but continuing resolution suggests more of the same Shiite to me. Congress is responsible; but this eternal can-kicking isn’t going to end well.
I respectfully disagree on both counts.
We will certainly need to wait and see the results of monies. But from the wins he has been doing, this does not erase them in the least. Each action stands on its own merits. Creating the budget is not his task. And incase you haven’t noticed, Congress doesn’t contain that many supporters of ours.
I appreciate the civil disagreement. We’re all in this together (with our grandchildren’s credit card). I’ve not abandoned President Trump but this is certainly a major disappointment. And the federal focus on bump stocks is just stupid.
Thank you. You did make me laugh a little and also agree much. But I also believe we need as much money for the military as we can get right now.
Yes, we are heavily fighting right now have been for a very long time. And yes, it is hard to tell what hurt our military most. The incredible shrinking funding, the downsizing, the ridiculous ‘rules of engagement’ and other misguided regs and rules, or the intentional demoralization and de-fanging of the military. This combination is something only our enemy could concoct together to do to us. Which we know now happened.
There is a build up of troops happening. Lots of training going on. Equipment is needed and it should be American made.
If he wasn't a god he couldn't single handily outlaw bump stocks. </s>
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