Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Bump Stocks

by J Pelkey
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In a blow for the Biden regime and a huge victory for Second Amendment advocates, the Supreme Court on Friday struck down a federal ban on bump stocks.

In the case of Garland vs. Cargill, the Court ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) had exceeded its constitutional authority in creating the regulation. The decision was 6-3, with all six conservative justices in the majority and the three liberal justices dissenting.

The opinion was written by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who clarified that an accessory does not mean that a firearm equipped with it meets the “machine gun” definition under federal law.

“This case asks whether a bump stock — an accessory for a semiautomatic rifle that allows the shooter to rapidly reengage the trigger (and therefore achieve a high rate of fire) — converts the rifle into a ‘machine gun.’ We hold that it does not,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.

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Here’s the full opinion:

The ban was initially imposed in 2017 following the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Texas gun store owner Michael Cargill challenged the ban in a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court, resulting in a victory for Cargill.

According to the NFA definition, a “machine gun” must fire multiple rounds with a single pull of the trigger. That is not how a bump stock operates. Instead, it utilizes the firearm’s recoil to bump the stock against the shooter’s arm, causing the trigger to be pulled for each round fired. This mechanism does not qualify it as a “machine gun,” much like how a skilled shooter using a semi-automatic firearm exceptionally fast does not alter its classification.

This decision holds significance because it establishes a precedent for interpreting the NFA strictly based on its explicit language, rather than broad executive actions. It is likely that other presidential oversteps will face similar challenges in the future. This ruling marks a significant victory for the Second Amendment moving forward.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that a president and the ATF cannot arbitrarily ban items not specifically outlined in the NFA.

As expected, the Supreme Court’s decision has sparked intense emotions among Democrats and they are in an uproar.

AP News reported:

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessories used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, in a ruling that threw firearms back into the nation’s political spotlight.

The high court’s conservative majority found that the Trump administration overstepped when it changed course from predecessors and banned bump stocks, which allow a rate of fire comparable to machine guns. The decision came after a gunman in Las Vegas attacked a country music festival with assault rifles equipped with the accessories.

The gunman fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd in 11 minutes, sending thousands of people fleeing in terror as hundreds were wounded and dozens were killed in 2017.

The 6-3 majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas found the Justice Department was wrong to declare that bump stocks transformed semiautomatic rifles into illegal machine guns because, he said, they don’t “alter the basic mechanics of firing.”

Justice Samuel Alito agreed but wrote a short separate opinion to stress that Congress can change the law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a dissent joined by the court’s liberals and read out loud in the courtroom that she hoped Congress would act.

More reactions from leftists:

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