So States Ban Bump Stocks. Now How Do They Enforce the Law?

Bump stock owners tell their legislators to FOAD . . .

Under New Jersey’s new bump-stock ban, which was approved in January, residents were supposed to destroy or turn in their bump stocks by mid-April.

So far, New Jersey State Police say, they have not received a single one.

It’s hard to know for sure, but Americans could own as many as 520,000 bump stocks, according to estimates from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Many of the devices are untraceable, in part because they don’t have serial numbers.

New Jersey is not the only state having trouble enforcing its ban. In Massachusetts, where residents had until February to surrender their bump stocks, State Police received just three devices. The Bay State’s ban, which passed in November, is a felony.

courtesy thefederalist.com

Guns Don’t Kill People, But Gun Bans Do

It’s almost as if the gun-grabbers don’t want to acknowledge that guns actually save lives . . .

Perhaps the most ironic part of the gun control debate is that most of the time and energy spent arguing over whether people should be permitted to keep their God-given right to defend themselves and their families focuses almost exclusively on instances in which people are murdered by criminals who legally possess guns, and almost never on those much-more-common occasions when law-abiding citizens stop murderers or are the victims of gun violence perpetrated by people who don’t possess guns legally.

For instance, the gun-grabbing Left mostly ignored and downplayed the heroism of National Rifle Association instructor Stephen Willeford, who in November 2017 rushed barefoot from his home to save countless lives at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Armed with an AR-15 rifle, Willeford fended off the murderer, shooting him twice. The murderer fled in his vehicle, but Willeford hopped in a truck driven by good Samaritan Johnnie Langendorff and the two men chased him down. The evildoer eventually crashed his vehicle and took his own life before Willeford and Langendorff could get to him.

courtesy vox.com and Getty

The Second Amendment allows for more gun control than you think

Especially when lower courts take as broad a reading to Heller as possible . . .

Heller is a landmark case in many ways, not least of which for Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion, one of his most discussed and most quoted. But a close look at decisions over the past decade indicates that the case has not revolutionized judicial treatment of gun laws in quite the way that Stevens and others might have feared or gun rights supporters might have hoped.

Some gun rights advocates have suggested that’s because lower courts have been thumbing their nose at Scalia’s opinion in an act of massive resistance akin to the South’s refusal to desegregate after Brown v. Board of Education.

But Scalia’s opinion made clear that the decision would leave untouched many “longstanding prohibitions” on the use of guns. In practice, courts have concluded that these prohibitions and others like them pass constitutional muster. Our research confirms, as other research has suggested, that most Second Amendment claims fail. We also find that most fail precisely because of limitations that Heller itself places on the right to bear arms.

courtesy twitter.com

Gun Grabbing Houston Police Chief Threatens Dana Loesch With Legal Action Over NRA Video

Chief Art is nothing if not consistent(ly a laughingstock) . . .

This, apparently, is another of those Constitutional issues where God has personally informed Chief Acevedo that aren’t actually God-given. And I’m sure the NRA would be willing to pay Acevedo’s expenses if he would only bring this suit. The publicity would be priceless.

MSNBC Reporter Fails in Apparent Attempt to Get Santa Fe Students to Push Gun Control

Hmmm. Santa Fe vs. Broward County. Not a difficult decision . . .

In what seemed like an obvious fishing expedition for anti-gun comments, an MSNBC reporter repeatedly tried to bait Santa Fe High School students with questions about potential reform after Friday’s shooting.

The only problem was that none of the students took the bait that she seemed to dangle in front of them.

MSNBC reporter Mariana Atencio first tried asking students about the “national debate” surrounding gun safety and gun reform.

“It’s just kind of hard to control some of this stuff,” one of the students said. “You gotta be kind to others,” he remarked, indicating that hurtful comments could encourage a shooter.

 

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Texas ain’t Floriduh. Except mebbe Austin…gee I wish I had a bumpstock. I did see and held one. For 500 bucks I’d pass. Now I see like the NY SafeAct gun owner’s in
    Joyzee are giving the state the one finger salute😄😎😏

    • Why the heck would they? Mags are limited to 10 rounds, and if you had a bumpstock you’d have to lose your muzzle threads because they’ve had an AWB since the federal AWB ended.

      • 10 round limit isn’t in effect as yet. Of course when it does, I’m sure we will all turn in our 15 rounders (sarc).

  4. Acevedo’s brand of bullshit is unbelievably hypocritical. The guy wears a gun on his hip for his own self defense ( not ours: according to the Supreme Court), yet he thinks he is something special and has more right to self defense than the average citizen. So he doesn’t like Twitter criticism? Well it is unfortunate for him that today a federal judge says he doesn’t have a say in the matter, as long as he is a public official.

    • When he was infesting Austin with his contagious idiocy we all called him Art Assholeveda. He has been an idiot since birth apparently.

      • If he’s known statewide as a useless asshole, then who is the constituency that successfully elects him?

  5. I have some very specific and graphic remedies I believe Patriotic American’s should be prepared to take to defend the Second Amendment. IMO, nothing, and I mean nothing, should be off the table. But because I enjoy posting here on TTAG, I’ll exercise some restraint and self censor so as not to run afoul of site rules. But whatever you can imagine that I’m thinking…..I’ll just finish by saying, no, you’re not even close. I’ve pretty much had it with these filthy, Liberal Terrorists™️.

    • Those who look forward to war have never experienced it.

      Let’s elect officials who will represent our interests, and get this country back on track… no violence necessary.

      I don’t want my kids to have to live through a civil war.

      • ‘liljoe,

        Progressives have already started the war and there is plenty of violence. The millions of defenseless people who have been beaten, robbed, raped, and murdered (both in an out of the womb) are testament to that.

        The only reason that violence is not more widespread is because decent people continue to let Progressives denigrate, desecrate, dominate, rob, and murder them.

        If you don’t believe me, imagine what would happen if everyone in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York took a HARD stand against gun laws that force people to be defenseless victims of violent crime, a HARD stand against excessive taxation, fines, and penalties (government theft), and a HARD stand against abortion.

  7. “Scalia’s opinion made clear that the decision would leave untouched many “longstanding prohibitions” on the use of guns. In practice, courts have concluded that these prohibitions and others like them pass constitutional muster.”

    We PotG foolishly believe that, e.g., the Gun Control Act of 1968 is unConstitutional because the word “Gun” appears in the title. It would be closer to the truth to say that: Any gun law IS Constitutional so long as it does NOT:
    – infringe
    – on the right
    – of the People
    – to keep and bear
    – arms.
    Lot’s of laws likely would pass that test; and, that’s the test, isn’t it?

    I believe that the lower courts are thumbing their noses at the guidance provided in Scalia’s “dicta”, honoring only the literal words of the decision itself: handguns, home. The lower courts can do that until the day SCOTUS orders them to stop. That day won’t come until Trump appoints another justice; Long Live President Trump.

    Our task ought to be to bring to the Federal courts in various Circuits whichever cases will incrementally lay the foundation for a new SCOTUS decision declaring the individual right of the “average” citizen to: bear; concealed. Not mere “dicta”, a decision finding that right in the 2A.

    I think that accomplishing this feat is straightforward. We simply need to pay attention to the opportunities. There are a lot of States that Shall-Issue to residents but Won’t-Issue to non-residents. How could these States defend the Constitutionality of their discrimination against non-residents? Is there a violation of the right of the People to bear arms here that is inconsistent with the Constitutional principle of treating non-residents equally as the States treat their residents? A very simple question; and, it probably has a very simple Constitutional answer. An answer which will be right in many Circuits (excepting the 9’th, of course).

    There are several variations on this discrimination; they are all nonsense, arbitrary and won’t stand-up when challenged in Federal courts. Why aren’t our gun-lawyers pursuing this strategy? I have yet to find an answer to this simple question.

    Making this trivial incremental case does NOT open the way to respect for the 2A in every aspect. It would ONLY crack the last 8 or so jurisdictions that are “Won’t-Issue”. Forcing these jurisdictions to become Shall-Issue will make them new jurisdictions like Illinois; reluctant respecters of the right-to-bear.

    To be followed will be narrowing the number of gun-free zones; reducing the fees; reducing the training requirement; reducing the impediments such as paperwork and delays. It is going to be incremental, step-by-step. Yet, liberty will be imposed by SCOTUS; our Congress-critters won’t pass National-Reciprocity without a revolt of gun-owning voters.

    • ANY firearms regulation is an infringement as it restricts the right of the citizen.

  8. A little cheerful news for POTG for the ‘Digest’ :

    “”Blue Wave” Crashes On Shores Of Reality: GOP Takes Lead In Midterms Poll For First Time”

    “Remember all that chatter and hope about a so-called “blue wave” of Democrats coming to overwhelm Washington in the Midterms?

    Well it appears have ebbed to nothing.

    In the latest Reuters poll, more people said they would vote for a Republican candidate over a Democrat in the upcoming midterm election, a reversal of previous trends.

    Of the 1,139 people surveyed earlier this month, 41.1 percent said they would vote for a Republican in their district in November, up from 31.7% at the end of March. Only 35.2% percent of respondents said they planned to vote for a Democrat in their district in the upcoming election, down from 45.8% in early April.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-23/blue-wave-crashes-shores-reality-gop-takes-lead-midterms-poll-first-time

    • Didn’t comrade cisco just tell us yesterday that the socialists were poised to take it all?

      He wouldn’t lie, would he? 😉

  9. So are we going back to the pre-Weaver stance single handed shoo ting? I guess I’m getting old, it’s getting so hard to keep on top of what’s trending with the cool kids these days.

    • Most target events are offhand, one handed.
      Those are match style air pistols in the pic.

  11. The CHIEF OF POLICE of a major metropolitan city wants to try and bring “cyber-bullying” charges against a private citizen for expressing dissenting political views.

    I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that they let this guy carry a gun when he’s less mature than most middle-schoolers I know.

    • We really should get on banning ovens from possessing guns until they under go a thorough background check.

  13. Its mandatory to disobey any law or command given that is unjust. If I feel it is anyway. As all gun control laws are unjust. Seems most appointed cops. Almost all judges don’t understand a few simple words.
    “Shall not be infringed” is burned into my vocabulary. Its meaning in English is pretty straight forward. And simple.
    If I owned a banned anything. Id be dammed before I would turn it in.

  14. As usual, the Vox article on Heller is dishonest, in this case, by omitting the content of the footnote that further clarifies the “longstanding prohibitions” mentioned in the ruling.

    The footnote goes on to label these prohibitions as “presumptively lawful regulatory measures,” with the VERY KEY word being “presumptively.” In legal terms, the question of specific gun-control regulations were out of scope of the case. That means that their legality was not considered. AT ALL. Hence the footnote, describing them as “presumptively lawful,” simply because there was no basis upon which to describe them in any other way.

    This is one of the most abused and misquoted portions of Heller, and EVERY time it happens, we should be right there pointing it out.

  15. Just goes to show NJ’s stupidity. Bump stocks were illegal in NJ since 1992. Even before they were invented. How? NJ 1992 assault weapons law outlawed possession of collapsible stocks, then ruled bump stocks to be collapsible. They don’t even know what laws they already passed! Just feel good legislation. Expect more of this crap NJ!

    • I think our legislators are paid by the bill. It would explain the need to pass a “Cop Killer Bullet Ban” when it mirrors a Federal law already on the books. Oh well, at least it doesn’t involve a new tax.

  16. Now that Slidefire is essentially gone and out of business what happens to their patents? I doubt they’ll enforce them so they will expire and anyone can legally infringe upon their design. So now the government has made the now illegal manufacture of this device a little bit more legal and easy to do or basically a new opportunity for the black market. Like gun control aids criminality I bet we will see more such uses of this novelty in crime made easier by the political elite.

  17. That MSNBC interview is embarrassing. The reporter missed several opportunities:
    1. A taped interview could be edited
    2. A taped interview could have let her put words in the students’ mouths in her closing
    3. She could have found shorter not-athletes who didn’t dwarf her and sap her of authority

    Better luck next time. If all else fails, there are lots of available jobs in food service. The tips are good on the weekends.

  18. For the refusal to comply with Heller and the claim that Heller allows more gun control than you think, look at Scalia’s Dissent in Friedman v Highland Park where he clarifies and explains that these courts are deliberately misreading Heller…..in that dissent he mentions by name, AR-15 rifles as being specifically being protected by the 2nd Amendment, and all other rifles and weapons in common use…….we need Trump to appoint 2-3 more real Justices who will go after these rogue lower courts……

  19. The attractive presenter (not reporter) is Venezuelan, let her go back home to that communist paradise rather than try to promote some sort of agenda here.

    The MSM is compliant in elevating these murdering sh*theads to a status beyond their sick, twisted dreams. Columbine was the first of the school mass murders perpetrated in the modern era. Since then, copycats have carried out many more, Columbine opened the floodgates.

    What has changed?
    – Self centered society, no personal responsibility
    – Bullying is now 24/7 via electronic devices
    – No ‘old fashioned’ response (i.e punch to the nose) to bullies is allowed
    – Kids raised to be special snowflakes, put on a pedestal, no consequences for their actions
    – Hysterical 24/7 media with an agenda
    – The break up of the traditional family unit
    – Traditional societal values ridiculed & demeaned by the left

    You can add in the failure (deliberate or purely incompetence?) of government to enforce existing laws in many of these cases.

  22. Folks, I live in Houston. It’s ruling city bureaucrats are almost all socialist. The mayor recently has been trying to raise taxes 10%. Did you know Acevedo came from California to Austin and now Houston…. Explains alot. I had a deadly DGU here and the grunt officers were polite, fair and decent. The following day after being released he “happened” to be outside. He told me the guys brains and head bone matter were all in my car. I was good to go. Harris county judge was running a kangaroo court along with the DA who charged me. Grand jury dropped charges in 10 minutes. The higher up you go in city/county you go here the more socialistic and PC/SJW they become. It broke me financially as well. I have Texas gun shield now….

  23. Don’t gloat too soon on not many turning in bump stocks. When the Storm Troopers start arresting and imprisoning people who have not turned them in you will see people either turning them in or quietly destroying them.

    As far as the Heller Decision I have pointed out that since the summer of 2017 the corrupt Supreme Court has been refusing to overturn the gun ban laws that are being passed so often one is losing count. Upholding the Maryland ban and the new California Ban on both assault rifles and the outlawing of concealed and open carry are only a few of the new gun ban laws that have been blessed by the lower courts and refused to be heard by the corrupt Supreme Court.

    • You live in your own fantasy, don’t you, comrade cisco?

  24. In the last ONE HUNDRED years only 8 judges have been impeached. Why is the House not addressing the radical prog Federal judges for their anti-Constitution actions and impeaching those the many that need removed from office? I would assert that you could find EIGHT that needed impeached just on the 9th Circus Court. And dozens if not hundreds of goons appointed by Obumer. The spineless RINO swampies would resist because “the demtards will do the same to our boys when they are back in power”. Do your job and the current coven of dems won’t BE power again.

    Give the illegals a hearing and send them home. Impeach lawless judges and discharge them.

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