With 2018 coming to a close, a hot topic of debate has been the bump stock as the Trump Administration finalizes approval of new regulations that ban the firearm accessory. Nearly everyone in America has heard the term "bump stock" by now, but if you ask the average person, they could probably tell you little to nothing about what it is, how it works, and who created it. This article is going to be an in-depth exploration of the history of the device from its inception by creator Bill Akins to the relevant regulations surrounding the invention. 
 
Before we go any further, I want to assure you of the accuracy of the information in this article. All relevant sources will be cited and I will be approaching this story from an educational standpoint. I'm not here to convince you of anything, I'm only here to share with you the history and facts surrounding the bump stock as well as the relevant regulations that made it legal, and the new regulations being enacted by the Department of Justice and the ATF with the approval of the Trump Administration that seeks to make it illegal. 
 
Let's start off by going to the very beginning where this story began as one man's idea and his journey to make it into a reality. 
  
First of all, before getting into the definition of a bump stock, let's take a moment to define exactly what it is using the correct terminology. The simple answer is that it is a firearms accessory with no inherent danger, it is simply an injection-molded accessory most commonly created out of polymer but more high-quality versions can be composed of synthetic/composite materials. While most, if not all, media outlets are referring to the firearm accessory as a "bump stock", the original iteration of the device was dubbed the "Akins Accelerator" by its creator. 
 
"Bump fire" refers to the act of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm, (semi-automatic means it is only capable of firing one shot per pull of the trigger) to fire shots in rapid succession in order to simulate the rate of fire of a fully automatic firearm. A fully automatic firearm is just what it sounds like, it's a firearm capable of firing as many rounds as a magazine can hold by holding down the trigger. You can fire a fully automatic gun once with a single quick squeeze of the trigger, or you can hold it down and get continuous fire. 
 
The problem with fully automatic weapons is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has restricted the use of automatic weapons to military and police with very few exceptions in most countries. In the United States, taxes and strict regulations have limited the manufacture and sale of fully automatic firearms under the National Firearms Act. The National Firearms Act was first enacted on June 26, 1934, shortly after the repeal of Prohibition. While the sale of fully automatic weapons has been severely restricted since the National Firearms Act of 1934, it is not impossible to buy one although it is very expensive and highly regulated. 
