Gun Owner Loses Suit for Right to Sell Firearm Conversion Device

An Illinois gun owner who wants to sell an old “drop-in auto sear” attachment—is banned by federal law because it converts a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun—had his suit thrown out by the Seventh Circuit.

“John Roe” bought the auto sear in 1979. At the time, he didn’t have to register it, but the law changed in 1981 when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ruled that it was unlawful to possess an unregistered auto sear. The Gun Control Act was then amended in 1986 to impose a ban on machine guns, including auto sears.

Roe forgot ...