Gun bump stock prohibition lifted by US Supreme Court

Bump stocks were the fast-firing firearm modification used in the bloodiest mass shooting in US history, but the US Supreme Court has overturned the ban on them.

By a majority of 6-3, the court decided that the government lacked the authority to outlaw the accessories.

Following the usage of bump stocks in a 2017 concert shooting in Las Vegas that claimed 60 lives, the Trump administration outlawed them.

The government went too far in classifying the accessories as machine guns, which are primarily forbidden under federal law with a few exceptions, according to a Texas gun shop owner who challenged the ban. He carried his case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

The transfer or possession of machine guns manufactured after May 19, 1986, is illegal in the United States. Nonetheless, it is allowed to transfer or possess machine guns that were legally acquired prior to that date.

According to the court, a semi-automatic rifle that has an attachment is not a machine gun as defined by federal law.

The conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority judgement on the Supreme Court, declaring that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had “exceeded” its jurisdiction.

Bumper stocks: what are they?

The conservative-dominated nine-member court’s three liberal justices, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented from the split judgement.

“Today, the Court puts bump stocks back in civilian hands,” stated Justice Sotomayor.

Some justices on the conservative-led court seemed suspicious of the prohibition at a hearing on the case in March, pointing out the slight technical distinctions between a machine gun and a bump-stock gun’s modes of operation.

Justice Neil Gorsuch stated at the time that he could understand “why these items should be made illegal,” but that Congress should be the one to do so openly.

Bump stocks are just “the kinds of weapons Congress was intending to bar because of the damage they do,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson retorted.

It permits the pistol to slide back and forth between the user’s shoulder and trigger finger, replacing the stock of the weapon, which is held against the shoulder. Without requiring the user to move their finger, that action, or bump, activates the gun.

The perpetrator in the shooting incident in Las Vegas was able to fire hundreds of rounds per minute—the same rate as many machine guns—by adding bump stocks to twelve of his semi-automatic rifles.The BBC was informed by a representative for the campaign of Donald Trump, whose government implemented the initial ban, that “the court has spoken and their decision should be respected”.

A representative for President Joe Biden blasted the choice. Biden and Trump are running for reelection, and Biden is set to face Trump on June 27. 

US Supreme Court divided on what constitutes a machine gun