, 'giggle switches' are now being advertised on major websites and shipped to your door. Absolutely illegal. But it is being done.
It may not be as illegal as you think. Right now. Obviously installing on on the gun would be manufacturing a full auto firearm. Doing that is not a crime, doing that WITHOUT proper ATF registration and paying the tax, IS A CRIME.
Possessing the switch alone, by itself, not installed on anything might not be a crime, or it might be, depending on circumstances and the interpretation of the applicable laws.
The ATF is very fond of the concepts of constructive possession and intent. There are cases in firearm (and other) laws where simply having all the components physically accessible to you (but NOT assembled into a functional device) is committing a crime. There are cases where an assembled device does NOT WORK but since your intent was to create a working device, you have committed a crime. And there are cases where just having the parts or having the information how to make the device and SOME of the parts is considered a crime.
And then, on top of that there are other nuances of law and the interpretation of law that could be determining factors.
For example, an item can be legal in a foreign country but not in the US (or in a specific part of the US) As a US citizen it may not be illegal for you to buy such an item, from a foreign source. BUT it MAY be illegal for you to take possession of that item within the legal jurisdiction of the United States.
SO, TECHNICALLY, selling them on the internet may not be a crime. Buying one on the internet MAY not be a crime. Having it shipped to your door in the US may not be a crime, but you receiving the item MAY BE a crime. It all depends on specific details.
here's an example of what principles might apply. Child pornography is not illegal in some countries. Downloading a file from there with child porn to your computer in the US, MIGHT be a crime (depending on specific circumstances). KEEPING that file once you know it has child porn in it, IS A CRIME in the US. The details matter to the law, and often it requires a court case to establish what is and isn't a "correct" interpretation of the law.
What irritates me most about this kind of thing, isn't the problem itself, or even the crime being committed, its the way the press, and certain public officials act about it. As the hue and cry goes up to do something about the problem, whether its giggle switches, ghost guns, 3d printers, or the world trade center terrorist attacks, the pattern is consistent.
First they have to tell us the problem exists. Essentially I'm fine with that.
Then, they explain WHAT the problem is. I understand that,
But then, without fail, they go on and tell the entire world HOW TO DO IT!!!
And that is, to me not just wrong, but barking stupid. One could make the argument that they are encouraging the problem by doing that.
Even though they claim its not their intent, it is often the result. One example that really irked me, and likely some others as well because it got pulled after only a few days, was the week after the 9/11 attacks, a major network news was showing people where to put explosives on a bridge to destroy it. And I mean with PICTUREs of the bridge, boxes for the bombs and arrows pointing to them.
Now, their claim was they were showing people where to look for suspicious objects that might be bombs, so they could report them and make us all safer...HOWEVER no matter what their intentions what they also did was TEACH thousands, possibly tens of thousands if not more, people who never before knew, where to plant demo charges on a bridge.
Same applies to full auto weapons conversions, and other things that are already crimes and have been crimes since 1934, by pointing out (repeatedly in national media) specifically HOW TO DO IT, I don't think they are helping the situation. I just can't get past the mental image of some unstable individual who MSN/NBC/ABC/CBS or whomever has just taught them that all they need to do is go to a certain website and order it, or download a program for their 3d printer or where to find instructions on how to make a bomb AND where to put it for maximum effect, now realizing how easy it could be, and deciding to actually do it, because the news told him how.
Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely against restricting the public's access to information. ANY and ALL information. I'm just not in favor of them freely giving out information that can be easily used to cause harm, unasked for, ON THE NEWS!
I know a bit about full auto weapons, and I know some about demolitions, but it is information I had to do research to find, and that I got official, legal training to use. I think some anarchist should have to work at least as hard as I did to learn these things, and not have it given to them by the news media.
of course, that's just my opinion....
