Bump Fire Stocks and Pull/Release Triggers
Full auto machine guns are a dream for many firearm owners, however, there are not that many available for legal private ownership. Due to the small number, 182,000 according to The Truth About Guns, transferable machine guns are expensive. It is a matter of supply and demand. Only 182k guns for the millions of people living in the US means demand increases and the supply is fixed or slowly dwindling as some could be destroyed or worn down from use. So the next best thing is a bump fire stock or pull/release triggers that simulate full auto.
Bump Firing Fun Under Fire
Due to the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas and subsequent mass shootings, bump fire stocks have become the symbol for anti-gun supporters to rally against. The shooter allegedly used a bump fire stock to rapidly fire onto the victims at the Las Vegas shooting. While the Vegas shooting was tragic the numbers do not justify the banning of anything. 58 people died from gun shot wounds and while that is terrible, a terrorist in Nice, France used a 19-tonne cargo truck to kill 86 people. While number of injured are similar. 422 by gun wounds in Vegas and 458 by vehicle in France. There was actually an additional 429 wounded in Vegas, however, there is no direct link to the shooting. These could have been people who were injured when they tried to flee but they were not wounded by gun shots so it is not directly related to rapid firing.
What is bump firing then? It is a form of rapidly pressing the trigger by taking advantage of physics. By holding a rifle somewhat loosely and pulling the trigger, the gun will shift rearward due to recoil. Then using your support hand you gently push the firearm forward again thereby pushing the trigger again into your trigger finger. The process repeats itself and you can fire very quickly. Most shooters tend to fix their finger in place by hooking it onto a belt loop. The problem with bump firing is that it is difficult to actually hit your intended target. The gun is not as controllable compared to a slower firing cadence.
Within the last few years Slide Fire systems came up with a bump fire stock. It replaces the stock and grip of an AR-15 making bump fire easier to perform from the shoulder. The grip is attached to the stock and the AR-15 slides inside the stock. The pistol grip has a protrusion to rest your trigger finger against. That is crucial to bump firing as you saw in the belt loop example above. Then the manipulation is the same. Your support hand pushes the gun forward bringing the trigger into your finger and the gun fires.
Pull/Release Triggers | A Better Way To Fire Fast
A couple years ago two companies figured out an exploit in the definition of a semi auto trigger. The ATF defines a rifle by “fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.” However, in the world of competitive shotgun shooting like Trap and Skeet, release triggers
have been adopted. Shotgun shooters manipulate every nuance out of the shotgun for any benefit to their shooting. They found that pulling the trigger can cause issues like pulling your shot when you jerk the trigger thus resulting in a miss. Release triggers use fewer muscles and do not have many negative effects on your shooting. A release trigger works similar to a normal trigger. When you are ready to shoot, you pull back on the trigger but then nothing happens. It is only when you let go of the trigger does the sear become tripped and the hammer is released.
The ATF approved this trigger for semi-auto use even though their definition uses the words “single pull of the trigger”. So Fostech and Franklin Armory got approval from the ATF that pull and release are two separate manipulations of the trigger. Single pull and single release. Yep, that is semi auto. Full auto is defined by multiple shots fired with a single pull of the trigger. Since only one shot is fired on the pull or release it passes the test.
Fostech made their Echo trigger which originally required a proprietary bolt carrier group. One benefit to their design is that you could not have hammer follow. Hammer follow is a negative by product when pulling the trigger too fast. You can actually release the trigger too soon and the hammer does not hit the firing pin resulting in a malfunction. The Fostech Echo was designed so it cannot do that. The hammer cannot be released unless the bolt carrier group is all the way forward.
One limitation to the Fosteh Echo is that you are limited to what gun you can use it in. It only works in AR-15s and while their newer generations now work with full auto carriers, it is still limiting. That is where the Franklin Armory Binary Trigger shines. While in most cases hammer follow is possible, they offer a wider range of triggers for many different weapon platforms. Their BFSIII trigger is for the AR platform but it works in other guns that can use an AR-style trigger. I installed mine into my Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 then swapped it into my Sig Sauer MPX.
According to Naegele Sun of Franklin Armory, their Binary Trigger for H&K roller locks cannot have hammer follow.
The benefit of the pull/release triggers over the bump fire stocks is that it does not require finesse to get the gun to shoot reliably. Sure, the Franklin Armory Binary Trigger can run too fast and induce a malfunction but as long as you slow down a little it will run just fine.
Legality Of Rapid Fire?
Recently anti-gunners have been trying to ban bump fire stocks and anything else that allows a shooter to shoot fast. The problem with this possible ban is that it is open ended and vague. Other than calling out bump fire stocks, it doesn’t really call out specifics. This is dangerous. Vagueness allows more accessories to be banned if it passes the smell test and right now everything smells bad to anti-gunners.
Here is the notice proposed by the Department of Justice…
Department of Justice Submits Notice of Proposed Regulation Banning Bump Stocks
Today the Department of Justice submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a notice of a proposed regulation to clarify that the definition of “machinegun” in the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act includes bump stock type devices, and that federal law accordingly prohibits the possession, sale, or manufacture of such devices.
“President Trump is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety and security of every American and he has directed us to propose a regulation addressing bump stocks,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “To that end, the Department of Justice has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a notice of a proposed regulation to clarify that the National Firearms and Gun Control Act defines ‘machinegun’ to include bump stock type devices.”
This submission is a formal requirement of the regulatory review process. Once approved by the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Justice will seek to publish this notice as expeditiously as possible.
Recently Adam Kraut, an avid second amendment lawyer, and Jonathan Patton of The Gun Collective used a slow motion camera to prove that bump fire stocks do not make a firearm into a machine gun. The historic difference between a machine gun and a regular firearm is how many projectiles are fired with a single pull of the trigger. No matter how fast a gun shoots, if only one bullet is fired with a single trigger pull, it is still a semi-auto firearm and not a machine gun.
Eric of Iraqveteran8888 went up against world’s fastest shooter Jerry Miculek. Eric needed a handicap by using a bump stock while Jerry used his competition semi-auto race gun. They both shot 10 rounds each in about the same time.
So would the Department of Justice proposal not include Jerry Miculek’s finger? Of course not. And as I showed earlier, it is possible to bump fire without a special stock. Organizations like the Firearms Policy Coalition are actively fighting against the DOJ’s bump stock ban proposal. You can check out their work here.
The video by Adam Kraut and Jonathan Patton is one example they are using as evidence to fight the DOJ. The NRA rolled over on the bump stocks as well as many traditional firearm owners. The problem is the second amendment community is divided. Too often some groups do not think such legislation applies to them. Sure the bump stock is a novelty and does it matter if the DOJ bans it? Not for those who don’t use one and never will. However, the slippery slope issue arises. Why Let the government take away any more of our rights?