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Comment by Zak | Hacker News Reader

This interpretation seems a little weird not because of the apparent declaration that a shoestring is a machine gun, but because a machine gun is defined in law as a firearm that fires more than one shot with "single function of the trigger". The shoestring in this case resets the trigger after firing so that it can be pulled again. It does not cause additional shots to be fired without a separate movement of the trigger caused by the shooter's muscles pulling on it.

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Surprisingly, gatling guns are not consider automatic by the definition or the atf [1]. But if one were to attach a hand drill in place of the crank?

[1] https://tippmannordnance.com/22lr-gatling-gun/

Don't make me google it, but I thought they also consider a device that can make a semi-auto into full-auto a machinegun in itself. So much like an AR lower receiver, the shoestring is the gun, even though it doesn't have any classic gun features like a bolt, barrel, or breech, etc.

Also, in the M1/shoestring case, the operator just puts tension on the string, and the charging handle cycling back and forth is what releases and applies that pressure to the trigger, so it is just one pull of their finger.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_sear

Wouldn’t be the first time the ATF had an arbitrary and capricious interpretation of a statute.

Nor the last

> a machine gun is defined in law as a firearm that fires more than one shot with "single function of the trigger"

so, double barrels are machine guns..

Double-barreled firearms usually do not fire both barrels as a result of a single pull of a single trigger. Oddly, the AF2011A1 double-barreled handgun does fire both barrels with a single pull of a single trigger and is apparently not regulated as a machine gun.

I'm confused as to why; it fits the statutory definition much more than trigger reset devices like the aforementioned shoestring do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_Firearms_AF2011A1

If you look at the pic closely, there are two triggers.

This one is really an anomaly, it appears they skirt the regulation by having two triggers stuck together.

https://stdgun.com/s333-thunderstruck-gen-ii/

There are two triggers on the AF2011A1, but pulling either of them fires both barrels.

Double barrels don't fire both barrels without a reset unless there are two triggers.

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