They found a loophole and they're going for it!

God bless West Virginia. 🔥

Here's the rundown:

• Gun Owners of America authored a bill that they passed to state senators in West Virginia that gets around the 1934 National Firearms Act and 1986 Hughes Amendment, which severely regulated gun sales in America.

• This bill exploits a loophole in the 1986 law that bans Americans from buying full-auto guns.

• The 1986 law exempts the government, including state governments, from the ban, including "transfers."

• This new bill would therefore allow local governments to "transfer" the guns to citizens, presumably after gun shops have "transferred" the guns to the government.

According to 922(o), a state government may lawfully 'transfer' — that is, sell, give, loan, etc. — machineguns to ordinary citizens. And after the transfer is complete, those citizens may lawfully possess them, so long as the transfer was made by the State government.

But you don't have to take our word for it. The Department of Justice recently made the very same argument in a court filing. The case is State of New Jersey v. Bondi, which is being litigated in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.

In that case, New Jersey is suing the U.S. DOJ because the Trump admin directed the ATF to return confiscated "Forced Reset Triggers" (FRTs) to their owners.

These triggers, like "bump stocks," allow the trigger to be pulled faster, which increases the rate of fire. Though these are not mechanically full-auto, the ATF gets really grabby when people invent new ways to get around their unconstitutional gun grabs.

A patriot sued Biden's DOJ in Cargil v. Garland and won, forcing the ATF to admit that such triggers are semi-auto devices, and thus not banned by the 1986 law. Democrat-led states like New Jersey were upset about this, so they are trying to stop such devices from being returned to Americans.

Trump's DOJ says the lawsuits are moot, because the DOJ is exempt from the 1986 law. 👇

HUGE NEWS out of West Virginia today!

Thank you to the Senate sponsors @ChrisRoseWV and Zack Maynard.

All gun control is an infringement and this fight in WV is just the first step—other 2A states should follow suit to gut the Hughes Amendment. pic.twitter.com/oZzGjIsKmP

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 23, 2026

More:

Summed up, the exemption from the ban on machineguns follows the firearm, not who possesses it.

This is why our legislation, now officially introduced by our allies in West Virginia, would create State-Operated Machinegun Stores.

This state-run entity would be tasked with purchasing machineguns and conducting transfers to qualified members of the general public, much like how many states open and operate liquor stores.

TAKE ME HOME TO WEST VIRGINIA!