Gun Store Owner Invents Modification to Save AR-15 from ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

John Bastiani, owner of Bastiani Arms, has invented a way to release AR-15 magazines via rapid disassembly rather than a “bullet button,” in hopes of providing a way AR owners can avoid registering their guns as “assault weapons.”

Democrat lawmakers expanded the state’s “assault weapons” ban in 2016 after Californians adopted the “bullet button” as a way around the magazine release ban. With such a button installed, an AR-15 that fell under the “assault weapons” ban with a straightforward magazine release suddenly became state complaint. The language covering “bullet buttons” took effect January 1, 2017.

With the new ban language in place, an AR-15 with a detachable magazine and the usual cosmetic features that leftists seize upon must be registered as an “assault weapon.”

Bastiani looked for a way to have a fixed magazine that could be quickly released once the gun was disassembled, thereby avoiding the ban language tied to detachable mags. He succeeded by cutting and fashioning a small piece of metal which he used in “[replacing] the bolt catch on the left side of the gun.” With the replacement installed, the gun will release the magazine during rapid disassembly and only during disassembly. This allows the gun to have a fixed magazine which can still be quickly changed out when it is time to reload.

KRCTV quoted Bastiani saying, “I cut some stainless steel… traced around, laid it out, cut it out with a dremel and a file, put it in the gun and said, ‘Oh my god, it actually does what I thought it would!’ We kind of lucked out because no one was thinking of the side of the gun we developed our lock for.”

Bastiani named his invention MOD 1, which stands for the first “Mandatory Orwellian Device.” He said it “requires no skill at all to install” and can be sold so cheap that he is thinking about selling it in vending machines.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.