Why A Bump-Fire Stock Ban Won't End Bump-Firing

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has proposed a ban on bump-fire stocks or anything that would allow someone to fire “too fast.” The NRA has even come out and said bump-fire stocks should probably be regulated. The gun community is evenly divided on just whether these stocks should be legal or not.

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However, even if something is done to ban bump-fire stocks, it won’t stop the problem. It won’t prevent another maniac from using bump-fire to kill numerous people if he’s so inclined.

You see, while the bump-fire stock is useful for bump-firing, eliminating those won’t eliminate bump-fire.

“But doesn’t Sen. Feinstein’s bill ban other devices that assist in things like that?” some might ask, and they’re right. Unfortunately, the ban is useless and here are two videos to illustrate just why it’s useless.

For example, in this one, they use an ordinary rubber band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnD3Ame7Z5c

Here’s one that just uses a belt loop.

Either Sen. Feinstein’s bill will also lead to the banning of office supplies and parts of our clothing or her proposal is less than useless. After all, a would-be killer who wishes to use bump-fire to kill can easily obtain rubber bands and is probably wearing pants.

Don’t get me wrong, I think bump-fire is stupid. It’s a perfectly good waste of ammo or no purposes other than the thrill factor. Ammo’s not cheap enough for me to really want to waste it like that…though I suppose I’d be willing to waste someone else’s ammo to give it a try. My own? Nope. There’s too much legitimate training to do for me to be willing to blow it like that.

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That said, while I think it’s dumb, I don’t think it should be illegal and I don’t think a stock that helps facilitate it should be illegal. After all, you’re outlawing one tool used for bump-fire, but that won’t end the practice. Shooters who are so inclined will continue to bump-fire.

Especially since, with proper training, you can get this kind of aimed fire:

Also note that while Travis Haley is pretty damn fast, he’s no Jerry Miculek.

In other words, fast shooting is here to stay no matter what Dianne Feinstein, Shannon Watts, or Michael Bloomberg and company think about it. Even if they could manage to end bump-fire completely–and that’s a ridiculously lost cause–they won’t end quick shooting. Frankly, I’d rather a shooter wanting to kill me try to use bump-fire than really fast, aimed fire like Haley or Miculek use.

After all, there aren’t many videos about bump-fire that shows someone actually hitting their target, and there’s a reason for that. Bump-fire is notoriously inaccurate, much like automatic fire in the hands of most people. It’s almost impossible to use effectively against people unless you have a large mass of folks you can aim at, but once people start to disperse, that effectiveness ends.

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Ban the stocks if you can, but nothing will really change so far as public safety is concerned. Those dedicated to committing atrocities like Las Vegas will still have a plethora of options available to them to create the exact same kind of mayhem.

 

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