The US Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a bump stock does not transform a firearm into an automatic weapon, overturning a federal rule that banned bump stocks.
In a 6-3 decision, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: “Congress has long restricted access to “machine guns.”[s],'”, a category of firearms defined by the ability to “fire, automatically, more than one shot… by a single trigger function.”
“Semi-automatic firearms, which require shooters to re-squeeze the trigger with each shot, are not machine guns. This case asks whether a bump stock, an accessory for a semi-automatic rifle that allows the shooter to quickly re-squeeze the trigger (and therefore achieve a high rate of fire): turns the rifle into a ‘machine gun’. We maintain that it does not,” he wrote.
The case, Garland v. Cargill asked the court whether a “stock” device is a “machine gun” as defined by federal law because it is designed and intended to be used to convert a rifle into a weapon that fires “automatically more than one shot… by a single trigger function.”
TEXAS GUN STORE OWNER SAYS SUPREME COURT SHOULD LIMIT GOVERNMENT’S ‘POWER’ IN ‘BUMP STOCK’ BAN CASE
A stock image is shown on March 15, 2019 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
The high court majority determined that the legal definition of “machine gun” is any weapon capable of “automatically firing more than one shot…with a single pull of the trigger.”
“We maintain that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a stock is not a ‘machine gun’ because it cannot fire more than one shot ‘with a single trigger pull.’ And even if it could, it would not do so ‘automatically,'” Thomas wrote.
“Therefore, the ATF exceeded its legal authority by issuing a rule classifying ammunition as machine guns,” he said.
After a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017 that left 60 people dead and 500 more injured, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued an interpretive rule concluding that “bump stocks” are machine guns. .
“This tragedy created tremendous political pressure to ban ammunition nationwide. Within days, members of Congress proposed bills to ban ammunition and other devices ‘designed to accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle.’ “Thomas wrote in Thursday’s opinion.
The Trump administration initiated a ban on the devices, reversing previous regulations, and President Biden’s Justice Department defended it in court.
READ THE OPINION OF THE SUPREME COURT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented from the majority, saying that “the Court puts firearms back in the hands of civilians. To do so, it sets aside the Court’s definition of ‘machine gun.'” Congress and adopts one that is inconsistent with the ordinary meaning of the statutory text and not supported by context or purpose.”
“When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call it a duck. A stock-equipped semi-automatic rifle fires ‘automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading’ by a single trigger function , because I, like Congress, call it a machine gun, I respectfully disagree,” he wrote.
NEW YORK CITY STORE OWNER WITH CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT FACES 7 YEARS FOR INADVENTLY SHOOTING AT POSSIBLE ROBBER
FILE – The Supreme Court of the United States, on November 15, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
A bump stock is an accessory that replaces the standard stock of a semi-automatic weapon, the part of the long gun that rests on the shoulder.
Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works, sued the government after being forced to turn over several “booster stocks” under ATF rule. He says the agency exceeded its administrative authority by imposing a ban, without any congressional action.
“It really goes back to… freedom,” Cargill said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And it goes back to just the basics of something that my clients and I legally purchased. The government should not have that power, that authority in an administrative agency… to go back and ban that. You know, something that Congress has not prohibited. “That will be a job reserved for Congress.”
JANUARY 6 ALDIÓTES, ABORTION, RIGHT TO GUNS: A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE AT THE HISTORICAL CASES SCOTUS WILL HEAR IN 2024
Vince Warner shoots an AK-47 with a stock installed at Good Guys Gun and Range on February 21, 2018 in Orem, Utah. (George Frey/Getty Images)
Bump stocks entered circulation at the beginning of this century, as one of several devices that can be attached to semi-automatic weapons.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As the shooter applies forward thrust on the barrel, the device harnesses recoil energy to cause the trigger to “slam” against the stationary finger, which then allows another round to be fired. The effect is faster shots than with a standard stock.
The ATF says more than half a million stocks were in circulation when the federal ban went into effect five years ago, requiring them to be surrendered or destroyed.
Source link
