Supreme Court to Review Legality of Bump Stock Ban After Las Vegas Shooting

15

The U.S. Supreme Court has consented to determine the legitimacy of a prohibition on bump stocks, accessories that enable semi-automatic firearms to shoot in rapid succession akin to automatic firearms. This ban was initiated during President Trump’s tenure.

Deliberations are set for the upcoming year to scrutinize a Justice Department regulation instituted following the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.

Divergent rulings have emerged from federal appellate courts regarding the alignment of the bump stock definition as a machine gun with the existing federal statutes.

The Supreme Court has announced that it will consider an appeal from the Biden administration against a judgment by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which declared the prohibition invalid.

In a separate ongoing legal challenge, the Supreme Court is analyzing the constitutionality of a federal statute aimed at disallowing individuals with domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. This inquiry follows the pivotal 2022 ruling that saw the conservative majority on the court bolster gun ownership rights.

However, the current case in question pivots not on the Second Amendment’s “right to keep and bear arms,” but on whether the procedures for amending the bump stock regulation under the Trump administration were in accordance with federal law.

The prohibition on bump stocks, enacted in 2019, originated from the horrifying incident in Las Vegas. In this tragedy, the assailant, a former postal service worker and avid gambler aged 64, used modified assault rifles to unleash over a thousand bullets within 11 minutes into a concert crowd of 22,000 attendees.

The majority of the firearms were equipped with bump stock mechanisms and extended magazines. The assault resulted in the immediate death of 58 people, with two subsequent fatalities and several hundred injuries.

This ban represented a significant reversal for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which had earlier, in 2010 under the Obama administration, determined that bump stocks did not fall under the category of a machine gun and thus were not subject to federal prohibition.

The Las Vegas attack prompted a reassessment of this stance, leading to a revised interpretation that the initial judgment was flawed.

According to the ATF, bump stocks utilize the semi-automatic firearm’s recoil to perpetuate firing, essentially allowing the shooter to maintain firing without manually moving the trigger after each shot.

Legal documentation indicates that the user is required to apply continuous forward pressure on the firearm with the support hand and steady trigger pressure with the firing hand.

In January, the full U.S. 5th Circuit ruled with a majority of 13-3, asserting that a legislative amendment by Congress is necessary to enact a bump stock ban.

Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod of the 5th Circuit opined that the current statutory definition of ‘machine gun’ does not encompass bump stocks.

Conversely, a trio of judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit interpreted the same legislative text differently.

Judge Robert Wilkins, representing the District of Columbia Circuit, reasoned that a bump stock qualifies as an autonomous mechanism facilitating the discharge of multiple rounds via a single trigger pull, thereby classifying it as a machine gun under the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act.

A resolution in the case, titled Garland v. Cargill, No. 22-976, is anticipated by the onset of summer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about bump stock ban legality

More about bump stock ban legality

• Supreme Court Takes On Bump Stock Ban Case
• Bump Stock Regulation and Federal Law
• 2017 Las Vegas Shooting and Bump Stocks
• 5th Circuit Court’s Decision on Bump Stocks
• District of Columbia Circuit’s Contrasting Ruling on Bump Stocks
• Upcoming Supreme Court Decision in Garland v. Cargill