The Supreme Court has struck down a Trump-era ban on “bump stocks,” devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire shots rapidly, mimicking a machine gun. This decision has revived a years-old controversy surrounding bump stocks after they first came under scrutiny following the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. The ATF had previously evaluated bump stocks in 2010 and determined they were regulated as a firearm part, not a machine gun.
In October 2017, a gunman equipped with a bump stock opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, resulting in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. This incident prompted calls from lawmakers, including some Republicans, to regulate bump stocks. The National Rifle Association initially supported additional regulations on bump stocks but has since backed overturning the ban. In December 2018, the Justice Department announced a final rule banning bump stocks, turning them into machine guns under federal law.
The federal rule banning bump stocks went into effect in March 2019, leading to a federal lawsuit challenging the ban from gun owner Michael Cargill. A federal appeals court eventually struck down the bump stock ban in January 2023, leading to the case making its way to the Supreme Court. On June 14, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the ATF had exceeded its authority in banning bump stocks, striking down the federal rule.
Bump stocks are devices that can be added to semi-automatic firearms, allowing them to fire shots rapidly by repeatedly bumping the shooter’s finger against the trigger. The Supreme Court noted that bump stocks do not technically meet the federal definition of a machine gun, as they require the trigger to be deployed multiple times, just at a higher speed. Justice Samuel Alito called on Congress to take action against bump stocks, suggesting that amending federal law would be a simple remedy following the Supreme Court’s decision.
Opposing the Supreme Court’s ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion that bump stocks should be classified as machine guns under Congress’s definition of the term. She warned that the decision to reject this understanding would have deadly consequences. Bump stock manufacturers had previously claimed that their devices were intended for individuals with disabilities who might have trouble shooting a gun, but inventor Jeremiah Cottle acknowledged in a 2016 interview that bump stocks are primarily used by gun enthusiasts.
