Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker announced the Department of Justice has amended the regulations of ATF, clarifying that bump stocks fall within the definition of “machine gun” under federal law.

    He clarified bump stocks fall within the definition of “machine gun” under federal law, as such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger.

    On Feb. 20, President Trump issued a memorandum instructing the Attorney General “to dedicate all available resources to… propose for notice and comment a rule banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns.”

    In response to that direction, the Department reviewed more than 186,000 public comments and made the decision to make clear that the term “machine gun” as used in the National Firearms Act, as amended, and Gun Control Act), as amended, includes all bump-stock-type devices that harness recoil energy to facilitate the continuous operation of a semiautomatic firearm after a single pull of the trigger.

    The final rule amends the regulatory text by adding the following language: “The term ‘machine gun’ includes bump-stock devices, i.e., devices that allow a semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the recoil energy of the semi-automatic firearm to which it is affixed so that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical manipulation of the trigger by the shooter.”

    Furthermore, the final rule defines “automatically” and “single function of the trigger” as those terms are used in the statutory definition of machine gun.

    Specifically, “Automatically” as it modifies “shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot,” means functioning as a result of a self-acting or self-regulating mechanism that allows the firing of multiple rounds through the single function of the trigger;

    “Single function of the trigger” means single pull of the trigger and analogous motions.

    Because the final rule clarifies that bump-stock-type devices are machine-guns, the devices fall within the purview of the NFA and are subject to the restrictions of 18 U.S.C. 922(o).

    As a result, persons in possession of bump-stock-type devices must divest themselves of the devices before the effective date of the final rule.