Supreme Court rules on Trump-era gun bump stock ban


Bump stocks don’t convert rifles into “machineguns,” the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision by Justice Clarence Thomas.  

Bump stocks attach to semiautomatic rifles, enabling rapid fire. After the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under the Trump administration said that the devices meet the definition of a machine gun.

But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that federal law excluded bump stocks from the definition. The Biden administration appealed to the justices, arguing that if the circuit ruling stands, then “its consequences are likely to reverberate nationwide,” deeming the issue one that’s “exceptionally important for federal law enforcement and public safety.”

Though it’s gun-related, the case didn’t call for interpreting the Second Amendment, which is at issue in another case this term, United States v. Rahimi.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *