Supreme Court Set to Review Federal Bump Stock Ban Challenge

The Supreme Court has granted review of a case challenging the federal prohibition on bump stocks, which are devices that enable shooters to increase the rate of fire of semiautomatic rifles, potentially firing hundreds of bullets per minute. This ban has generated conflicting rulings in the federal appeals courts.

The country's recent mass shooting has left it in shock, and the decision to hear the case coincides with the upcoming review of a pivotal Second Amendment ruling from 2022, which had a profound impact on gun rights across the nation.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a visit to Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minnesota, November 1, 2023.

Leah Millis/Reuters

Biden travels to Maine to pay respects to victims of the Lewiston shooting. During his presidency, Donald Trump took action to ban bump stock devices in 2019 through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Individuals who owned these devices were required to either destroy them or turn them in to an ATF office. Trump initiated this review following a tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, where the gunman utilized semiautomatic weapons and bump stock devices to target outdoor concert attendees, resulting in the deaths of 58 people and injuries to many more.

The question at hand is whether the ATF exceeded its authority in 2018 when it reclassified bump stocks as "machine guns" under the National Firearms Act. Federal law defines a "machine gun" as any weapon that can shoot, is designed to shoot, or can be easily restored to shoot automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, through a single function of the trigger.

The challengers of this decision argue that the appeal is a matter of separation of powers, contending that the agency did not possess the authority to issue such a rule that bans the use of bump stocks. They assert that bump stocks do not fall within the legal definition of a "machine gun," and that, at the very least, the law is ambiguous.

The Biden administration has requested the Supreme Court to consider an appeal, highlighting that several appeals courts have dismissed challenges against the rule. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar contended that bump stocks should be classified as machine guns, as they enable the weapon to fire multiple bullets when the shooter applies constant forward pressure on the barrel-shroud or fore-grip, causing the trigger to engage the shooter's stationary finger.

The dispute originated when Michael Cargill acquired bump stocks in April 2018. Although Cargill complied with the ATF's final rule by relinquishing the devices, he contested the regulation by initiating a lawsuit in the Western District of Texas. Ultimately, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative federal appeals court, determined that the ATF had unlawfully acted because bump stocks were not covered by the statutory definition of "machine gun."

Cargill's legal representatives assert that he will not be able to retrieve his bump stocks. However, they highlight that according to the government's own estimation, Americans had purchased a staggering 52,000 bump stocks during a nine-year period when the ATF excluded them from the statutory definition of "machine gun."

Cargill's lawyer argued in court documents that the ATF acknowledged the expected property loss would surpass $100 million. Despite the district court and a panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit ruling in favor of the government, a larger panel of judges from the appeals court issued a divided opinion and ultimately overturned it on January 6, 2023.

According to several judges, a careful examination of both the statutory language and the functioning of a semi-automatic firearm indicates that a bump stock does not meet the specific criteria outlined in the Gun Control Act and National Firearms Act's definition of a machine gun. Ultimately, the court's majority ruled in favor of Cargill based on the ambiguity of the statute. This is a developing story and will be regularly updated.