There are problems with the new bump stock directive

Nevada’s congressional Democrats criticized the rule banning bump stocks, preferring the president and Congress had passed a law instead (Wednesday Review-Journal). The rule takes effect in March, and bump stock owners have 90 days to surrender and/or destroy their devices. Gun-control groups lobbied for the rule, saying it should have happened sooner.

In 2010, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approved the use of bump stocks, determining they didn’t meet the definition of machine guns. But it did an about-face after the October 2017 massacre killing 58 people in Las Vegas and recommended a rule to ban the devices.

But the rule is flawed for the following reasons: It doesn’t address law-abiding Americans who relied on the previous ATF determinations, and it is hard — if not impossible — to enforce because there’s no way to track down bump stocks and their owners.