GOA Releases Statement On Slide Fire’s Decision To Cease Operations

[Bearing Arms 388]

The demise of Slide Fire (if they’re stopping to take orders, it’s a sign of their demise after all) isn’t a good thing for the firearm industry at all. While they offered a product that no one else could due to their patent, they were still a part of the community of firearm accessory manufacturers. It’s proof that if the anti-gunners are allowed to, they can push anyone out of business.

The Gun Owners of America have issued a statement about the situation.

GOA Statement on Slide Fire Ceasing Orders of Bump Stocks

Springfield, VA – Executive Director of Gun Owners of America (GOA) Erich Pratt stated the following after Slide Fire announced bump stocks would orders would cease:

“It’s sad, but not surprising, that Slide Fire is closing its doors. What should surprise gun owners is that it was a Republican administration that put a gun parts maker out of business — especially since the Obama administration had refused to take such a course of action on several occasions.

“But then again, there has been so much misinformation on bump stocks. Even the news surrounding Slide Fire’s closing has consistently misconstrued bump stocks as items that can convert a semi-automatic into a machinegun. That’s just not the case.

“Gun owners should be very concerned about the future of semi-automatic rifles and should not be surprised if a future anti-gun administration uses the current ATF regulations on bump stocks to declare AR-15s to be machineguns. After all, given that the proposed ATF regulations erroneously deem the bump stock firing of an AR-15 to be ‘automatic’ fire, the AR-15 thus becomes a full automatic under those circumstances.  And, under federal law, at 26 U.S.C. 5845(b), any firearm that can be ‘readily restored’ or ‘converted’ to fire automatically IS a machinegun.

“But the danger is not merely a future threat for owners of semi-automatic rifles. If ATF’s proposed regulation goes into effect, there will be up to 500,000 bump stock owners who will instantaneously be turned into felons, because they will be in possession of an unregistered machinegun.”  

Erich Pratt, or another GOA spokesperson, is available for interviews. Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over 1.5 million members and activists. For more information, visitGOA’s Newsroom.

Pratt brings up a good point, namely about the people who have bump stocks already.

There was a buying frenzy when a bump stock ban was first proposed, after all. The thinking was probably that if there was such a ban, there would be some kind of grandfather clause that would allow them to keep their stocks, which is why they hurried to get one before such a ban could be finalized.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things are shaping up. That leaves thousands and thousands of bump stock owners with no recourse. They will own suddenly illegal machine guns because they own a piece of plastic that was legal one day and illegal the next. Why is this somehow acceptable?

Look, I think bump stocks are dumb, as a general thing. I think the same about bump fire in general.

But just because I think something is dumb doesn’t mean it should be illegal. There’s nothing right about this, and the demise of Slide Fire is only part of the problem.

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