Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) readies to sign a bump stock ban for his state even as D.C. Democrats cool on any gun-control push for fear of losing big in the 2018 elections.
The Massachusetts Senate passed a ban by a vote of 33-0 and the House by a vote of 151-3. The two different bills are now being “reconciled” so one bill can be sent to Baker.
According to WPXI, the Senate bill bans bump stocks and trigger cranks by classifying both “under the same state laws restricting machine guns.” The problem with this classification is that the bump stocks to do not convert semiautomatics into machine guns. Doing that requires converting or altering the action of a gun, something that neither bumps stocks nor trigger cranks do.
In fact, Breitbart News reported ATF Association president Michael Bouchard explaining that the ATF-approved bump stocks serve as an accessory rather than a conversion device because they “increase the rate of fire”—allowing the gun owner to pull his trigger quicker—but that “does not make [the firearm] a machine gun.”
Nevertheless, the Massachusetts legislature is hard at work categorizing bumps stocks with machine guns and the state’s Republican Governor is ready to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
Ironically, this is occurring while D.C. gun control stalwarts like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) call on colleagues to hit the brakes on any gun control push for now. Schumer is worried the Democrats could lose big in November 2018 if Democrats are tied too closely to calls for more infringements on the Second Amendment.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Democrat lawmakers actually bypassed the normal process of public hearings for legislation in order to push their gun control legislation through. House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D) defended going around public comment, saying, “I think it’s important for us to take it up and take it up immediately.”
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.