SCOTUS Overturns Bump Stock Ban

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Facts

• In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) had 'exceeded' its authority when it banned bump stock gun attachments.¹
• The ATF banned bump stocks, which are gun accessories that allow semiautomatic firearms to shoot more rapidly, in response to the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, had used a bump stock to kill an initial 58 people.²
• The ATF ban was under the theory that bump stocks turned semiautomatic weapons into machine guns, which are illegal. However, the plaintiff, Michael Cargill, argued that a shooter must still put more work into shooting when compared to an automatic weapon.³
• In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that bump stocks do not turn guns into federally banned machine guns, which he noted is defined as a gun that can 'fire more than one shot 'by a single function of the trigger.'' He added that 'even if it could, it would not do so ‘automatically.''⁴
• In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said bump stocks turn semiautomatic rifles into machine guns, arguing, 'When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.'⁵
• As bump stocks first gained popularity in the early 21st century, the ATF in 2002 found that those operated via a spring mechanism were illegal, but those operated by a 'nonmechanical' mechanism were allowed.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²NBC, ³New York Post, ⁴FOX News, ⁵New York Times and ⁶wsj.com.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by Second Amendment Foundation. The law clearly states that only automatic weapons are banned, and bump stocks in no way turn semiautomatics into automatic weapons. The ATF blatantly overstepped its authority and violated the law in response to heightened political tensions. No federal agency has the right to strip Americans' of their Second Amendment rights just to satisfy certain public opinions.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Everytown. If you want to know whether bump stocks turn semiautomatic rifles into machine guns, just ask the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. While many states took action to prevent these deadly tools from ever being used again, SCOTUS has chosen to turn a blind eye to gun violence victims. Congress must now fill the moral vacuum left by the court and pass a bump stock ban.

Predictions