# Renew my Faith in my Fellow Man -- Bump Stocks sell out in Gun Stores
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [October 5, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034 "2017-10-05T16:43:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/1 "2017-10-05T16:43:55Z")
> **[Gun Stores Selling Out Of Bump Stocks After Shooter Used Them In Las Vegas...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bump-stock-sales-las-vegas_n_59d61b0ce4b0cde45873319d?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009)**
>
> "I want to get one before there is a push to make them illegal," one Facebook user commented.
> [@](#):
>
> Gun stores nationwide are selling out of bump stocks, a device used by the Las Vegas shooter that allows a semiautomatic gun to fire as quickly as a machine gun.
> Police said Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old gunman, had outfitted 12 of his firearms with bump stocks, which he used to fire hundreds of rounds into a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers Sunday from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Hundreds were injured and at least 59 people were killed, including Paddock, who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
> While some retailers, such as Walmart and Cabela’s, discontinued the sale of bump stocks following the shooting, others couldn’t keep up with the demand. At least six online gun retailers examined by Newsweek had sold out of the device this week.
> Slide Fire, a Texas-based manufacturer of bump stocks, sold out of the devices within days of the mass shooting. The company posted a note to customers on its website:
> “We have decided to temporarily suspend taking new orders in order to provide the best service with those already placed.”
Gotta get 'em all, before they get outlawed. Because you need a bump stock to … well, to utterly anhilate and liquefy deer, I guess.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/2 "2017-10-05T16:46:40Z")
The weird thing is, if they get banned, they become illegal. Unless they get grandfathered in, you won’t get to keep what you just bought.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/3 "2017-10-05T16:48:31Z")
It looks like they are very easy to make with legal easy to acquire parts.
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/4 "2017-10-05T16:48:36Z")
Even if I wanted one, and in other circumstances I can imagine being a gun nut, I would find it embarrassing to ask for them so soon.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/5 "2017-10-05T17:17:46Z")
Well of course they did. We seem to live in the scumpit nation of the universe.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/6 "2017-10-05T17:22:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Gotta get 'em all, before they get outlawed. Because you need a bump stock to … well, to utterly anhilate and liquefy deer, I guess.
Hey now, they’re not just for deer. Maybe they’re planning on using them on humans too.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/7 "2017-10-05T17:27:38Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> Hey now, they’re not just for deer. Maybe they’re planning on using them on humans too.
You’ll be happy to have a couple when the zombies rise up.
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### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/8 "2017-10-05T17:36:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> The weird thing is, if they get banned, they become illegal. Unless they get grandfathered in, you won’t get to keep what you just bought.
If a ban is implemented, (probably unlikely) those bump stocks in circulation will be grandfathered in. There is no record of who has them, and even if there were no ATF agents are going to bust into someones house to try to collect them. At best it may be made illegal to use them, and possibly made illegal to sell them, less helpful would be to make it illegal to manufacture them. But any ban is going to make the price (black market or otherwise) sky rocket, so some people may think its a good investment.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/9 "2017-10-05T19:04:34Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#):
>
> At best it may be made illegal to use them, and possibly made illegal to sell them, less helpful would be to make it illegal to manufacture them.
Ahh, that’s good. So the next guy who uses equipment like this for the purpose it is designed for (killing many humans as quickly as possible), will get a $50 fine tacked onto his sentence.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/10 "2017-10-05T19:11:01Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> Ahh, that’s good. So the next guy who uses equipment like this for the purpose it is designed for (killing many humans as quickly as possible), will get a $50 fine tacked onto his sentence.
[Current penalties for NFA weapon violations.](https://www.nraila.org/articles/19990728/federal-penalties-for-firearms-misuse)
> [@](#):
>
> In addition to federal gun laws imposed by the **National Firearms Act (1934), the Gun Control Act (1968), the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act (1986)** among others, most states and many localities have their own firearm restrictions in place. There are currently more than 20,000 firearms laws in the U.S., clearly more than enough to punish criminals who misuse firearms, but the laws have to be enforced. The following highlights existing criminal penalties for violation of federal firearms laws:
>
> ```
> It is crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment for anyone to alter a semi-automatic firearm to make it fire fully automatically.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment for anyone to possess such an altered semi-automatic firearm.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment for anyone to trade or sell such an altered semi-automatic firearm.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment for a convicted felon to possess a any firearm.
> The use of a firearm in a violent or drug-trafficking crime is punishable by a five-year mandatory prison sentence. A second conviction brings a 20-year mandatory sentence or life imprisonment without parole if the firearm is a machine gun or is equipped with a silencer.
> It is a crime punishable by a mandatory 15-year imprisonment for a criminal with three prior violent or drug-related felonies to possess any firearm.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment to transfer a firearm knowing that it will be used to commit a violent or drug-trafficking crime.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment to transport or receive firearms or ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment to shorten the barrel(s) of a shotgun to less than 18" or a rifle to less than 16".
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment to travel from one state to another and acquire, or attempt to acquire, a firearm with the intent to use it in a violent felony.
> It is a crime punishable with 10-years imprisonment to alter the serial number of a firearm regulated by the National Firearms Act.
> It is a crime punishable with 5-years imprisonment to possess a firearm with an altered serial number (or with 10-years imprisonment if the firearm is regulated by the National Firearms Act).
>
> ```
>
> In addition to imprisonment, fines for violating federal firearms laws can be as high as $250,000. That’s federal law now. Congress can’t make it much more illegal for criminals to have or to use guns . . . any guns.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/11 "2017-10-05T19:18:16Z")
> [@madsircool](#):
>
> You’ll be happy to have a couple when the zombies rise up.
No.
**Mythbusters** proved conclusively that a standard rifle will score more zombie kills shots (has to be in the brain!) in a shorter period of time that a machine gun.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/12 "2017-10-05T19:27:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> No.
>
> **Mythbusters** proved conclusively that a standard rifle will score more zombie kills shots (has to be in the brain!) in a shorter period of time that a machine gun.
And you waste less ammo.
An axe is even better.
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### Author:  [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/13 "2017-10-05T19:31:17Z")
Id be willing to bet that a lot of these are being purchased by people that never knew they existed before this week.
I see the same thing happen all the time with “legal highs” -legal substances intended to mimic the effects of an illegal drug.
Someone will get some community outrage going over “People are buying a synthetic or legal herbal version of pot-coke-heroin-valium-whatever. It’s a very strong and powerful and dangerous substance and that gets people really really high. And you can buy it on Amazon! This must be stopped! We need to create awareness!”
At which point thousands of people that had never heard of this substance have their awareness increased and they go on Amazon and buy this stuff up as fast as they can and sales soar through the roof.
I think the same thing is happening here.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/14 "2017-10-05T19:44:37Z")
And to think I sold my Smith and Wesson stock when Trump was elected (or, more specifically, when Clinton _wasn’t_ elected). I made a small profit then and the price has dropped - maybe it’s time to re-invest _if_ Trump can make enough noise to make Americans _think_ more gun regulations are coming.
Yes, I’ll invest in American paranoia and misery if it’ll make me a few bucks.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/15 "2017-10-05T19:52:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> And you waste less ammo.
>
> An axe is even better.
Axe gets you too close, though. I prefer a little more range from my zombies.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/16 "2017-10-05T20:05:27Z")
Shows what a bunch of dumb fucks that gun enthusiasts are. Just like with every mass shooting, ammo sales go up and gun stocks go up out of paranoia over new laws and regulations that never come. Now they rush to buy something that nobody needs because it has a prayer of passage.
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### Author:  [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/17 "2017-10-05T20:13:15Z")
It is most likely profiteering. The purchased items will go up for re-sale with incredibly high mark-ups online should it appear any legislative action is looking likely to pass and ban them. Both before the first AWB and in the wake of Sandy Hook, weapons and accessories that may be banned skyrocketed in price and there was no shortage of buyers. I suspect this is more of the same.
I’m a liberal gun owner by the way, including an AR-type rifle. Pre-AWB under Clinton, I owned a S&W Competition Match H-Bar that I bought at a gun show for around $650 new-in-box. When the AWB was gaining steam and looking likely to be passed, I took it to a gun show and sold it in cash within minutes for 2.5x what I paid for it. Post Sandy Hook, I was looking for a new AR in anticipation of some new legislation actually happening. I purchased a new AR for 2x it’s MSRP from an online site. Still haven’t fired that one either.
Yes, I’m conflicted on what I would do should any meaningful legislation pass that bans and requires turning in AR-platform rifles. I would not oppose such legislation but I cannot say for certain I’d just turn it in either. It may sit in a gun safe until such a time as either a.) the world comes to an end and I need it or b.) it’ll have to be dealt with by my estate after my death. I do fully support banning accessories like a bump-stock. There is not a compelling valid reason for these to be publicly available and banning them is not a violation of my 2nd amendment rights in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/18 "2017-10-05T20:30:54Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> Axe gets you too close, though. I prefer a little more range from my zombies.
Rifle axe.
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/19 "2017-10-05T21:04:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> [Current penalties for NFA weapon violations.](https://www.nraila.org/articles/19990728/federal-penalties-for-firearms-misuse)
I would guess that bump stocks skirt the 1st 2 issues having to do with “make it fire fully automatically” by saying that the weapon is still semi automatic, the appliance merely cycles the mechanism much faster than a human finger. It’s the only angle I can think of.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/renew-my-faith-in-my-fellow-man-bump-stocks-sell-out-in-gun-stores/798034/20 "2017-10-05T21:41:10Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#):
>
> I would guess that bump stocks skirt the 1st 2 issues having to do with “make it fire fully automatically” by saying that the weapon is still semi automatic, the appliance merely cycles the mechanism much faster than a human finger. It’s the only angle I can think of.
I gather “machine gun” and “fully automatic” are defined in terms of operation rather than performance, as it were. I can picture a fully-automatic rifle that fires repeatedly as long as the trigger is held, but is mechanically or electronically limited to release only one round per second. I suppose a redefinition is called for to address weapons that can fire more than, say, five rounds per second _by whatever means_, including the installation of after-market modifications or devices.
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