ATF Proposes to Classify 'Bump Stocks' as Machine Guns, Setting New Import/Export Restrictions

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is proposing to add “bump stocks” to its definition for machine guns, it said in a proposed rule. The change would apply the restrictions on machine guns, including those applicable to importation and exportation, to bump stocks. Under the National Firearms Act, machine guns may only be imported for sale to federal and state government agencies. The proposed rule would amend the definition of machine guns in ATF’s regulations so that it “includes a device that allows semiautomatic firearms to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the semiautomatic firearm to which it is affixed so that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter (commonly known as bump-stock-type devices).” Comments on the proposed rule are due June 27.