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Weapons Automatic For The People, But Not For Government

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

HUDSON - For years, marksmen have used a technique called bump firing: shooting a semiautomatic rifle from the hip and allowing the weapon's recoil to pull the trigger.

With the assault-weapons ban keeping most fully automatic weapons out of their hands, it was one of the few ways for enthusiasts to enjoy the thrill of firing a machine gun.

Bill Akins found a way to simulate that action by inventing a device that mechanized the recoil resistance of a semiautomatic rifle to fire more rapid, and accurate, bursts of bullets.

The Hudson man spent nearly a decade designing the Akins Accelerator, got a patent for it and then poured his life savings into marketing and producing it for distribution.

In the era of gun-control laws, the device promised to revolutionize target shooting.

That was until the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned the Accelerator - two years after approving it - forcing Akins to the brink of bankruptcy.

Akins now is taking the fight to the federal government.

He has filed a pair of lawsuits against the ATF - in U.S. District Court in Tampa and in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington - challenging the agency's ruling and asking to be compensated for more than $1 million in financial losses.

His attorney, John R. Monroe of Georgia, said the lawsuit in Tampa argues that the ATF ruling that banned the Accelerator was "arbitrary and capricious" and asks for a federal judge to grant an injunction against it so Akins can resume production of the device.

The other lawsuit asks for unspecified damages for compensation for his losses.

Monroe said the basis of the legal challenge is that the ATF overstepped its authority.

The 1968 Gun Control Act defines a machine gun as a weapon that "shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger."

Monroe said the Akins Accelerator does not fit the definition of a machine gun.

"While the ATF might not like it, they're stuck with the laws that Congress passed," he said. "They have no policy-making authority outside of the boundaries of the laws."

Akins, 55, said the issue boils down to fairness.

"They arbitrarily changed their mind and didn't offer any compensation," he said.

ATF officials wouldn't comment on the pending litigation, but a spokesman said the agency stands behind the decision to outlaw the Accelerator.

Drew Wade said the ATF initially approved the device after test-firing a prototype Akins sent the agency in 2003. He said the prototype malfunctioned when it was tested and analyzed by a senior technician from the ATF's Firearms Technology Branch.

But the agency approved the Accelerator anyway, saying in a letter it did not meet the criteria for a machine gun and, as a concept, was allowable under federal law.

"FTB has concluded that your submitted device is not designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun," ATF officials wrote in an August 2005 letter.

Wade said the agency reversed its position after someone who bought a fully functioning Accelerator requested another test-firing. This time, it worked.

Shortly after, federal regulators issued a new ruling, concluding the Akins Accelerator was a machine gun prohibited under the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Besides mailing in all recoil springs in stock and his customer list, the agency demanded that Akins send an affidavit to each customer to account for all of the devices sold. The recipients had to sign the document and return it to the ATF with the removed springs.

Wade wouldn't comment on the rationale for the ATF's reversal of its ruling.

The Accelerators, made of injection-molded plastic, sold for about $1,000 each. They came with tools and instructions on how to attach the device to a semiautomatic rifle.

Similar to a Hellfire, which attaches to the trigger guard and has been on the market for decades, the Accelerator was based on the target-shooting practice of bump firing.

Once the trigger is pulled, the Accelerator's spring mechanism takes over, and the trigger reciprocates at high speed, using recoil resistance to imitate automatic fire. Most of the devices were made for a Ruger 10/22, but Akins intended to make them for other rifles, too.

The device was a hit. Internet chat rooms buzzed with excitement from posters who had heard about the Accelerator, and Akins was flooded with orders from across the country. Akins' customer base was sport shooters and gun enthusiasts.

"They were selling like hot cakes," Akins said.

In 2006, a few months after full production began, the ATF reversed its ruling, leaving Akins with a worthless product, a mountain of debt and a warehouse filled with more than $750,000 worth of useless stock.

Akins wrote to the ATF, asking for clarification.

What followed was a flurry of vague and often contradictory correspondence that never fully explained why federal regulators changed their position, Akins said.

To the ATF, the mechanism was an illegal converter kit that, in the wrong hands, could turn a normal target-shooting rifle into a 700-round-per-minute killing machine.

Threatening him with imprisonment, officials ordered Akins to cease production, turn over the recoil springs from his existing stock and hand over his customer list.

"They took everything from me," Akins said. "This is America. How can they do that?"

To see a demonstration of the Accelerator, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P8AbTKvykE.

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (727) 815-1082 or cwade@tampatrib.com.

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