Beneath the taxidermied deer and bighorn sheep heads, some of the display racks at San Diego’s SoCal Gun sit bare. “There are no AR-15s for sale anymore,” manager Greg Kerrebrock said. An end-of-year crush cleaned out the shop’s inventory as customers gobbled up models affected by a new law that kicked in on January 1.
Part of a sweeping package of reforms pushed by Democrats in 2016, the regulations clamped down on a gun industry innovation, known as the bullet button, that flouted an earlier statute meant to regulate rifles with detachable, quickly reloadable ammunition magazines. Under the revised rules, Californians in possession of assault weapons that incorporate a bullet button and certain other features have until the end of this year to register them with the state, a step that some gun owners are loathe to take. Stores like SoCal can’t sell new bullet button-equipped guns, and don’t yet have an alternative that they can be sure will comply with the enhanced restrictions.
But all that could soon change. Just as they did the last time California updated its longstanding assault weapons law, enterprising gunsmiths are ready with new products that could render the tighter restrictions largely moot.
On the same day that Governor Jerry Brown signed the new law, Darin Prince, the inventor of the original bullet button, announced the release of a gun add-on called the Patriot Mag Release, or, as he dubbed it, the “Bullet Button Reloaded.” Other companies offer similar products, such as the AR Maglock, developed in response to an assault weapons law passed in 2013 in New York State. The mechanisms, which can be purchased online, are designed to meet legislators’ rules for detachable ammunition magazines, while still allowing shooters to blast away with minimal interruptions. As such, the products“undermine the spirit and effectiveness of California’s gun safety reforms,” said Ari Freilich, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
by Alex Yablon
