By Kelly, Dec 4, 2018 By Bob Barr, President & CEO of the Law Enforcement Education Foundation
In one of the more blatant examples of a federal agency abusing its power and usurping the power of Congress to legislate, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), reportedly is ready to declare that “bump stocks” are “machine guns” and therefore unlawful to be possessed, except under strict licensing.
Gun control activists certainly will cheer this action once it is finalized (which reportedly will be later this month), and the average citizen, if asked, likely would agree that bump stocks should be illegal following the well-publicized use of such a device by mass murder Stephen Paddock in Las Vegas in October 2017.
The manner by which the administration is going about making the devices unlawful, however, should be of great concern to all Americans who care not only about sound federal firearms policies but, even more important, the rule of law.
Normally, and according to Article I of our Constitution, if the government deems certain activity — such as possessing a machine gun — to be of sufficient danger and therefore should be illegal, the Congress (not an Executive Branch agency) passes legislation to that effect. If signed by the president, that activity becomes unlawful. This is what occurred in the immediate aftermath of Prohibition when the National Firearms Act of 1934 went into effect.
That Act defined what a “machine gun” is (essentially a firearm capable of firing more than one round with a single pull of the trigger) and declared that only licensed persons strictly regulated would be permitted to possess such a firearm.
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