“A contact for Mr. Codrea is below,” an email from the Department of Justice to attorney Stephen Stamboulieh states.  “He can reach out to that individual to arrange pickup.”

What that means is I’m getting my bump stock, which they’ve had since April 2019, back from ATF.

Longtime readers will recall mine is a unique one, signed by inventor Bill Akins, still in its original packaging, initially approved as “legal,” then deemed “illegal,” subsequently returned for rework to remove the spring and once more deemed “legal,”  and then ruled illegal again. They’ll also recall I don’t even own the rifle the stock is made for and never intended to use —my possession of it was always intended to make sure I had a dog in the fight, which is why I turned it in to ATF.

I’d originally joined in a lawsuit to force the issue to the Supreme Court. Ours was merged with another lawsuit, but ultimately, it was their Cargill ruling that saved the day. Kudos to those tyranny challengers—we all owe them.

What the DOJ admission means is I get to experience what naysayers have been telling me would never happen, what others incapable of seeing the bigger picture dismissed as “a hill not worth dying on over a stupid piece of plastic,” and what I’d hopefully characterized as “a dream come true” if it did: Me, a “mere” citizen confiscating a “machinegun” from ATF and them surrendering it to me. We who are in this position are in for a special experience.

When it will happen is another matter, but hopefully soon. I won’t be available to pick it up for a bit, and sent the following to the ATF contact:

I would like to make arrangements to retrieve my bump stock, transferred to ATF’s Independence Field Office via Receipt for Property and Other Items on 04/10/19 (see attached).

I will be available any time after August 8 to pick it up.

Please advise when, where, and what, besides identification, you need me to bring.

I’ll post an update after the transfer happens, and then have to decide what to do with this hunk of inanimate plastic I have no intention of expending ammo with. Maybe with its history and signature I can donate it to a deserving gun group to use as a fundraiser, or maybe I’ll just be selfish and frame it, but that’s to be determined. The immediate plan is to get a picture or two. And have a cigar.

What I won’t do is give it up again. Some Democrat Ohio cities have ignored that it’s a preemption state and tried to ban them, and a couple of Moms Demand Action-backed attention-seeking Democrats, Michelle Grim and Cecil Thomas, have introduced a bill to ban them that has no chance in the Republican dominated legislature.

A bigger danger is not so much that Congress will ban them (that depends on what happens in November), but that so many prominent “pro-Second Amendment” voices argue that the issue was ATF doesn’t have such authority, but that Congress does. Not according to “shall not be infringed” it doesn’t, and not a one of those arguing otherwise can point to the section in the Constitution delegating such authority to any branch of government.

If and when that happens, I’ll not repeat what I did to challenge the rule, and it won’t be the first time I’ve defied an infringement.

I don’t know when I’ll pick up my legal/illegal/legal/illegal/legal “machinegun” because my email resulted in an out-of-office reply from ther ATF contact, but I’m expecting some time in August hardly sounds unreasonable. We’ll see if any unforeseen glitches surface or any delays arise.

The property receipt (my address redacted) is embedded below.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.