Supreme Court Won’t Stop Enforcement Of Bump Stock Ban

OREM, UT - FEBRUARY 21: A bump stock is installed on an AK-47 at Good Guys Gun and Range on February 21, 2018 in Orem, Utah. The bump stock is a device when installed allows a semi-automatic to fire at a rapid rate m... OREM, UT - FEBRUARY 21: A bump stock is installed on an AK-47 at Good Guys Gun and Range on February 21, 2018 in Orem, Utah. The bump stock is a device when installed allows a semi-automatic to fire at a rapid rate much like a fully automatic gun. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stop the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on bump stock devices, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns.

The ban took effect Tuesday. Gun rights groups asked the court Monday to keep the government from enforcing the ban for now. Chief Justice John Roberts declined one request for the court to get involved on Tuesday and a second request was declined by the court on Thursday. That was the only remaining request. The justices didn’t say anything in declining it.

The administration’s ban puts it in the unusual position of arguing against gun rights groups. President Donald Trump said last year that the government would move to ban bump stocks. The action followed a 2017 shooting in Las Vegas in which a gunman attached bump stocks to assault-style rifles he used to shoot concertgoers from his hotel room. By using the devices, which allow shots to be fired more rapidly, the gunman was able to fire more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes. Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds were injured.

The Trump administration’s move was an about-face for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2010, under the Obama administration, the ATF found that the devices were legal. But under the Trump administration, officials revisited that determination and found it incorrect. The revised regulation, which went into effect Tuesday, requires owners either to destroy their bump stocks or surrender them. The government estimates hundreds of thousands of the devices have been sold.

The revised regulation was met with resistance from gun rights advocates, and several lawsuits were filed to try to stop the ATF from enforcing the ban. But lower courts have so far declined to keep the administration from moving forward with the ban, and the Supreme Court declined to get involved to halt it.
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Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

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Notable Replies

  1. The Trump Administration = A broken clock (that’s right only once a day, but still)

  2. Top Of the list
    Things that are wrong with the country.
    Seriously ?
    After Las Vegas there are still people who think bump Stocks are a good idea.
    Sometimes I lose hope

  3. One small victory for common sense

  4. “The administration’s ban puts it in the unusual position of arguing against gun rights groups.”

    So every GOP candidate in 2020 has to choose between Trump on one side and angry gun nuts on the other?

    Sweet!

  5. The 2nd states the right to bear arms.
    A bump stock is not a arm.

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