There is a bipartisan coalition of Republican and Democratic representatives who are advocating for a bill to ban the possession of bump-stock devices. While the likelihood of the bill passing is still not as likely as any other gun control measure, its presence should not be shrugged off by gun owners, because the bill contains provisions that set the table for confiscation of legally purchased products, and worse.
The bill, introduced by Congressmen Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), claims to “prohibit the manufacture, possession, or transfer of any part or combination of parts that is designed and functions to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but does not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun, and for other purposes.”
Notice how the language of the bill is crafted; read it again if you have to, and really think about the wording – there are two specific things about the linguistic construction that make this particular proposal a slippery slope for any gun owner. (The slippery slope is considered a logical fallacy, but in the political world it’s pretty easy to see that it’s not really all that fallacious).
First off, as Reason Magazine notes, the bill retroactively criminalizes possession of the bump-stock devices even if they were purchased legally before the ban was enacted (if that happens). That means the government will have to confiscate these devices, one way or another.
by Seth Connell
