The "spec" is more than one round for a single pull of the trigger.
Again, too broad of an interpretation. As the agent on the stand said, if you fire a side by side shotgun and both barrels go off, you now own a machinegun.
There are NOT standards folks use to try and get around the law.
They do anything they can think of.
Really? Is there some epidemic of illegal modification shops that I'm unaware of? I mean, if someone is intentionally modifying a gun to make it full auto, and it can be proven that their modification is illegal, they're criminals. If someone owns a gun that malfunctions, that's a broken gun.
How many 'broken' weapons would show up if a blanket exception existed?
Just like the death penalty; I'd rather err on the side of preserving liberty.
I can easily 'break' a 1911 and it will double, or even go full auto.
If I give it to you is it just a 'defective gun'?
If you 'break' a gun, you've broken the law. If the parts wear out and the gun doubles or goes full-auto, you've got a broken gun. The hard part is proving intent. Here, too, I'd err on the side of liberty. More than that, did they inspoect the gun to see if the parts had worn out? Do they know when and how the parts wear? Without any objective standards, I guess we'll just have to take their word for it.
Purposely putting parts in a gun that allows it to have a hammer follow and fire can turn it into a machine gun under the law.
So, did Olofson install those parts or was the gun purchased with the parts installed? Was his intent to loan his buddy a machinegun? Did he even know that those parts were in there?
Again, most of those answers would be provided through publication of the test procedures and methods. That way, we could go to a section of the publication and say, "Ooops, he messed up" instead of taking the word of an ATF agent that may or may not know anything about firearms.
What amazes me is, in any other technical field, from boat covers to rocket motors, there are tests done for various aspects of the item. SOMEWHERE, there is always a printed test procedure. Moreover, the Federal Government has manuals and printed procedures for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, from zippers to fighter jets,
except testing firearms. Only the ATF gets away with arbitrarily deciding what is what without any objective test procedures, no printed manual as to what tests are to be run or what qualifies someone to test the firearm, and no oversight of the testing. I think Jeff White has it right; we need to force the legislature to reign these bozos in.