Slide Fires and Slippery Slopes - Granite Grok

Slide Fires and Slippery Slopes

“Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests.”  -Andrew Johnson

Slide Fire Stock
(AP Photo/Allen Breed, File)

Slide Fires and Slippery Slopes. And, the slippery slope is  at our door once again. About 96 hours ago, yet another maniac shot up a public venue, killing 59 people. The emotional caterwauling begun almost immediately. Not one single law in existence nor anything proposed would have stopped or thwarted this attack. It did not take two days for a piece of legislation to totally ban the use of slide fire stocks, binary triggers or other like technology to come to the floor.

Slide Fire is a veteran-owned company based out of Moran, Texas. Owner and developer Jeremiah Cottle applied for and received US PATENT US #8,127,658 B1 and has marketed and sold the Slid Fire product for over seven years. Cottle submitted his product to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for evaluation. On June 7, 2010, the opinion letter from the ATF stated,

“We find that the “bump stock” is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act…”

Since that date, Sales for the Slide Fire stocks have been robust and literally, millions have been sold across the United States. For seven years, in the wake of Aurora Colorado, the Orlando nightclub shooting, San Bernadino, and Sandy Hook, Slide Fires have been on the market and in use as a product by thousands of law-abiding Americans.

The Kool-Aid Slurping Lame Stream Media now races to the airwaves not having known of the existence of Bump Tech. To make matters worse, they have lined up the individuals purported to be “firearms experts” making varied claims and opinions about bump tech in general. The reality is many of these purported “experts” are little more than attention whores seeking to get their faces on television. I would opine their only expertise is watching YouTube Videos. Watching these idiots is an exercise in utter sophomoric tom-foolery.

cowardly leadershipRepublicans in Congress have bared their rubber spines for show and tell. The Kool-Aid Slurping Democrats are joining ranks with them. Talk about banning slide fire stocks, regulating them or restricting them have emboldened Democrats. The march to ban all firearms is back.

Some will say such assertions are extreme and that no such options are on the table. This latest demonization of Bump Tech is the toehold anti-second amendment advocates have been poised waiting for. The slippery slope.

“They’re going to say, ‘You give them bump stock, it’s going to be a slippery slope.’ I certainly hope so.” -Nancy Pelosi

From the old Horse Faces’ mouth came those words. She should stick to talking about, “Colon Cap, Cup Cumperneck.”

And it only gets worse. I have seen folks on the Second Amendment side asserting, “I would be willing to give up Bump Fire for National Carry Reciprocity.”  Horse Trading in gun legislation is dangerous and nearly always yields a corrupt bargain. Does anybody honestly believe the anti-gun Democrats are going to let national reciprocity pass into law without a bitter ugly fight? Trading one for the other means neither will be achieved.

liberals-cryThe Londonderry Fish & Game Club allows Slide Fire stock and binary trigger use on its ranges. LFGC is one of the very few clubs where bump tech is allowed. Seven years ago the leadership evaluated, examined, and tested bump tech for use on their ranges. Since that time, many members of the LFGC have made use of bump tech without a single negative incident ever taking place. Indeed, we have been roundly criticized periodically for doing so, but the plague of tastes and preferences of a few know-it-alls at other clubs…those who fancy themselves the smartest guys in the room, isn’t an issue that plagues LFGC where safety rules are evaluated based on the utility of the rule and not the tastes and preferences of some idiot who thinks he is a really smart guy.

I do not write this to sell Bump Tech. Bump tech has its own challenges and limitations. For example, an AR platform rifle, set up to fire semi-auto and equipped with a bump fire stock, will sometimes misfeed or double feed at a fast rate. Ammunition selection and rifle craftsmanship are all factors in the success of a slide fire stock.

To go to a gun shop, purchase a consumer grade AR-15 rifle and convert it to select fire (full auto) there are about 10 parts that need to be changed. From the trigger to the bolt carrier group changes are required for it to function as a military-grade rifle. This also requires a BATFE license as a manufacturer, let alone some nominal milling one must do to adapt a commercial grade AR.  Simply put, such conversions are best left to armorers and gunsmiths. That is why they are not commonly performed. It might be easier to purchase a registered lower and parts through the proper legal channels than to invest in making an AR fire full auto.

Crappy marginal ammo, tight-fitting magazines, and some gas block rifles will often disappoint the user. And generally, it has been our experience that match triggers on rifles function terribly or not at all with a bump fire stock.  Direct impingement rifles seem to be the optimum platform for performance of the bump fire stocks. Some gas blocks work well, others not so much. Bump Fire stocks are an add-on enhancement for rifles that provide a dimension of fun when used in a safe and secure environment.

As I write this, I sit here and listen to talking heads on the news talk about the Bump Fire stock as a “workaround.” Nothing could be further from the truth. A semi-auto rifle operated with a single trigger press does not change with a bump fire stock. Only the speed at which it occurs increases. Binary triggers are triggers that, when pulled, fire a round. However, instead of traditionally resetting, another round is fired as the trigger moves forward to primary position. When the BAFTE evaluated the Bump Fire stock, they used clear definitions of semi-auto and full auto in their opinion.

It doesn’t matter one lick how you feel about Bump Tech. None of the parameters have changed. What has changed is that people are crazier. Trump Derangement Syndrome is this manifestation. There is much emotion infused into this debate and the rational deliberative voices are being muted.  Banning or restricting the Bump Tech is an emotional reaction to a single event and I will likely be labeled as uncaring or callous for saying so. WHATEVER. Passing this restriction on Bump Tech is a foothold into further restrictions on firearms now legal across the U.S.

Shame on the NRA for capitulating even a little in asking for an ATF Review of the Bump Fire.  It has been reviewed…twice. How many more asses will these hacks kiss to get the Democrats to like them?

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