Thanks to a Gun Owners Foundation and AmmoLand News Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the gun-owning community now knows that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has determined a metal sliver is a machinegun.
The FOIA in question included a criminal examination letter by the ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD) that examined a Noveske N4 AR-15, that was chambered in .300BLK and equipped with a Franklin Armory BFSIII binary trigger. A binary trigger allows the user to fire one round on the trigger pull and one round on the release of the trigger. According to The Bureau, a machinegun is a firearm that fires multiple rounds with a single action of the trigger. Since the gun owner must consciously release the trigger, the ATF considers this to be two separate actions of the trigger. Thus, it is not a machinegun.
The criminal examination letter, which the ATF’s Sacramento Field Office requested from FATD, showed a fingernail-sized piece of metal and a worn disconnector can cause a Franklin Armory BFSIII trigger to fire automatically — a malfunction which is called “hammer follow.” After determining the gun in question was firing automatically and was a machinegun, the ATF determined the gun owner violated the National Firearms Act (NFA).
The ATF examiner separated the upper and lower, removed the piece of scrap metal and tested the rifle again. This time, the AR-15 performed normally. When the examiner pulled the trigger, a single round fired. When the ATF employee pulled the trigger, the rifle fired another single round. The ATF determined the sliver of metal and disconnector was the equivalent of a drop in auto sear (DIAS).
Because the ATF considers any device that converts a semi-automatic firearm to a firearm that fires automatically to be a machinegun, the ATF has determined this ever-expanding category could include DIAS, lightning links or 3D-printed Yankee Boogles. In this current case, it could be anything that could interfere with a disconnector in a binary trigger. It could be a spent primer, or even a metal shaving from the gun.
According to Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America, “To a bureaucrat determined to infringe on the Second Amendment so that he or she may exercise an iota of statutory ‘authority,’ I suppose anything is a machine gun, whether it’s a bump stock, a forced reset trigger, or a metal shaving,…But let me be clear, a sliver of metal is not a machine gun, and machine guns are protected by the Second Amendment.”
American gun owners could be considered guilty of violating the NFA in the eyes of the ATF simply for having a piece of debris stuck in their binary triggers.
A gun owner could be charged with a felony that lands them in jail for ten years if their legally owned firearm malfunctions. Hammer follow can be a dangerous malfunction, but it shouldn’t land a person in federal prison.
Charging a gun owner for a firearm malfunction is like charging a driver for speeding as a result of a stuck accelerator or a pilot for murder as a result of a plane crash caused by mechanical failure. The gun owner did not cause the firearm to act as a machinegun; a mechanical failure did. There is no way that the gun owner could predict that their firearm would malfunction.
The FOIA response shows that the ATF has no intention of having faith in American gun owners.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Under the current regime, if only the trigger identified as non-binary, I’m sure it would be okay.
Good one! In these trying times a little truth and humor are appreciated.
SCOTUS confirmed almost a hundred years ago that weapons most capable of waging war with, most suitable to the militia and military, were the only weapons protected by the 2nd. That obviously includes machine guns. In the Miller case, they said short barreled shotguns were not protected and could therefore be taxed by the NFA because they were told the military didn’t use them in trench warfare in WWI. They were ignorant of the facts and there was no defense present, so no one corrected their ignorance. Even so, their decision that arms for modern war are protected means machine… Read more »
Bingo! They REALLY don’t want to go there, do they? The BATF&E’s modus operandi seems to be take a potentially malfunctioning semi-auto and jack around with it until it fires more than one round with a single action of the trigger. Regardless of how difficult it was to do this, or how unreliably it could be duplicated, charge the owner with possession of an unregistered machine gun. Since the punishment for this “crime” is way out of proportion to the monetary value of the tax evaded, convince the defendant to plea to a lesser felony. (Stealing $200 doesn’t even qualify… Read more »
We need the cowardly and often corrupt judges of the present to do their jobs, take 2A cases, and declare NFA, Hughes Amendment, gun free zones, GCA, and every other regulation and law pertaining to firearms unconstitutional. No limits or restrictions are authorized, as the government is prohibited from doing so by our founding document. Murder is illegal. All these other laws are not even trying to reduce murder, but simply to disarm the populace.
WHOA! WHY the hell are you pleading ANYTHING other than, NOT GUILTY and I WANT AN ATTORNEY! If YOU DID NOT INTEND ON ALTERING A FIREARM and THIS happens, YOU DID NOT COMMIT A CRIME! To hell with whatever threats or intimidation they toss at you! You STAND YOUR GROUND! If you are innocent, you keep your mouth shut, demand an attorney AND A JURY TRIAL! NEVER BACK DOWN FROM DEMANDING A JURY TRIAL! UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! You can always call off a jury trial at a later date, BUT NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GO WITHOUT DEMANDING A JURY TRIAL! You… Read more »
They probably wouldn’t accept the plea that I stated (no time and no felony, or no deal) so you’re exactly right. Now who is that great lawyer I can actually afford? The courts are corrupt, the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment, is routinely ignored. Juries are selected to be dumb and docile and do what they’re told. A public defender will have too many cases assigned to devote enough time and effort to mine. They, on the other hand, can print as much money as they need.
Therein lies they’re personal challenge within yourself to make that decision whether you want to take what is probably an overloaded and truly a piece of shit attorney then it’s not doing their job properly in defending each and every one of their clients, and work with them and turn them into a true defense counsel by challenging their integrity to do their job. I have on several occasions had to do this at great risk would have done it because of losing everything I had. You realize at one point or another that everything you have doesn’t mean a… Read more »
Should be that the prosecution can spend no more money than the defense.
Ammoland. Stop using Scribd. The material is behind a paywall or requires a registration. Google has a free doc server that everyone can access. All the rants against the ATF do nothing. It will take money for lawsuits and lawsuits and lawsuits against the ATF and to help those railroaded into prison by chips of metal, key cards, and barrels 1/32 inch too short. The Communist regime has an infinite cashflow to destroy those entrapped by them. We do not. The Communists fight the long war. We lack strategy and vision. Only a tiny percentage of gun owners support the… Read more »
Our founders found a solution and if they keep pushing the same solution could rear its ugly head and that’s where its headed. A reset or correction is needed and eventually will occur . History dictates that its inevitable.
Yes, our Founding Fathers found a solution, unfortunately I do not foresee how that will reestablish our Constitutional Republic.
If, WE, The People reset these matters, we will have to re-establish and re-build from the founding contract (Constitution as well as the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, The Federalist Papers) on up in rebuilding our government. That means ALL the laws scrapped and everything starts over with perhaps using established laws as a reference or guideline, repealing MILLIONS of asinine laws and jurisprudence along the way.
Understand something. Veterans and probably a whole large portion of those serving active duty are standing by, ready to do whatever it will take for this country based on our oath and affirmation to the Constitution, freedom and liberty. HOWEVER, not a damn thing will occur UNTIL Jane and John Doe citizen get up of their apathetic ass and DEMAND that matters of this nation return to the fundamentals, principals and moral standards of the founding documents and Judeo-Christian principles and not all the rabbit trail special interest crap, to 20,000 Coalitions of Whatever, with the SOLUTIONS for… THEIR agendas!… Read more »
Scribd are trustworthy and secure. We have to sign up here don’t we? Sae with Scribd. I’ve accessed things there for yars never paid a nickel.
On the other hand the goog have proven themselves insecure and risky. They keep everything, are NOT trustworthy.
NOTHING that is transmitted electronically through any device is EVER secure. If you look throughout the history of communications, the only code that was never broken was that of the Navajo and other Indian tribes, The Code Talkers of World War II. For Christ sakes they just took a 21 y.o. an air National guardsman, a computer gamer they worked at The Pentagon who gave out all kinds of information and data. So what makes you think Scribd it’s not scrubbed?
“Stop using Scribd. The material is behind a paywall or requires a registration. Google has a free doc server that everyone can access.”
The paywall is only if you want to download the document as a PDF. You can access the document for reading by clicking on the “full screen” icon at the bottom of the Scribed section. Once you’ve done that open your application menu (the “hamburg”) and print the document off. You can then scan and save the printed doc as a PDF. It’s a workaround the paywall and you don’t have to screw around with Google.
This assumes that the exact same thing cannot happen in a standard AR-15 trigger, but it can happen (and has happened). I’ve seen some of the cases myself. Yeah, it’s an entirely differnt design, so the mechanism of how it turns semi-auto trigger into an unintended full-auto trigger… but it can happen. In fact, I would bet that any semi-auto gun could malfunction to become an unintended full-auto from wear damage and debris. In any case though, a nation of cowards deserves tyranny, because a nation of cowards allows tyranny (and therefore creates it). All firearms are a Right and… Read more »
Yup, a pin walking out on the hammer will cause hammer follow and technical full auto. Seen it a number of times, and experienced it myself.
Same here, only I got a 2 shot burst and almost immediately got anit-walking pins. It was a bit unnerving when it happened.
EXACTLY!
Now, a malfunctioning firearm is a machine gun. Our government is being run by Bolsheviks, the law is whatever they say it is, and anyone who wants to live free, they will accuse of crimes.
Animal Farm
They are going to keep poking, keep pushing.
That’s okay Roland. We could all use a good poke every now and then, but they need to watch out for the HAPPY ENDING!
Fatf!
Woooo
So I have had a Berretta shotgun for 30 years one morning 17 or 18 years ago was on the skeet field at first station. Called ‘pull’ and with a single pull of the trigger, it went full auto and blast of the bird with two consecutive shots. Never did it before or since.
Glad there wasn’t an ATF agent standing next to me or I would probably be in federal prison right now.
FATF and FJB.
The ATF will sometime in the near future determine that even a Bud Light is a machine gun,
That is if they are allowed to do so.
A full house cleaning is in order here.
Has the ATF ever been held to account for the unfounded hysterias they’ve created over the years by villainizing various weapons? The ATF were also central factors in convincing the first Obama/Holder administration that US military veterans posed an active threat to the United States. Anybody remember that???
Remember? Veterans are listed at the top of the newly published, FBI ‘s EXTREMIST LEXICON 2021
A stuck (or even occasionally sticking) firing pin is a “machine gun” according to the ATF. So be sure to get all the cosmoline out of those old SKS carbines and don’t let any rust, dirt, or carbon build up on the firing pin of any old semi-auto.