WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks. Former President Donald Trump approved the federal ban in response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people at an outdoor music festival.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), bump-stock-type- devices allow a semiautomatic firearm to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion for the 6-3 decision and said: “A bump stock does not convert a semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun any more than a shooter with a lightning-fast trigger finger does. Even with a bump stock, a semiautomatic rifle will fire only one shot for every ‘function of the trigger.’”
The federal Trump-era rule made possession of a bump stock a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The ban was challenged by a Texas gun store owner who sued to get his bump stocks back after turning them in to the government in 2018.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the ruling will make it more difficult to keep dangerous weapons out of the wrong hands.
“A bump-stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires ‘automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.’ Because I, like Congress, call that a machinegun, I respectfully dissent,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Several gun control advocacy groups warn the ruling will have a dangerous impact.
