GunsAmerica has done extensive reporting on the Trump administration’s extraconstitutional bump stock ban that literally turned hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans into felons overnight back in 2019.
We keep reporting on this ongoing saga because it really has nothing to do with the ultimate legal fate of bump stocks and everything to do with government overreach.
The administrative state, more specifically, the ATF and DOJ, did not have the authority to reclassify these non-mechanical accessories as “machineguns” and institute a confiscatory ban in which violators faced 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
Only Congress retains the power to issue such a sweeping prohibition. And that is one of the central contentions of a lawsuit known as Michael Cargill v. Merrick B. Garland, et al. that is set to be heard before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on September 13th.
This week, 19 prominent civil liberties organizations, policy coalitions, and individual gun owners submitted amicus briefs in support of that suit which was filed by the nonprofit New Civil Liberties Alliance.
They amici include all of the following parties: The Cato Institute; Liberty Justice Center; Pacific Legal Foundation; John Cutonilli; Firearms Policy Coalition; FPC Action Foundation; Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc.; NST Global, LLC; B&T USA, LLC; Gun Owners of America, Inc.; Gun Owners Foundation; Gun Owners of California, Inc.; Heller Foundation; Tennessee Firearms Association; Virginia Citizens Defense League; Grass Roots North Carolina; Rights Watch International; America’s Future; and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund.
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“The U.S. Justice Department—through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)— broke from years of precedent and discovered a new power to prohibit that widely held type of firearm accessory,” said the Cato Institute. “That power does not exist, and this Court should not defer to the government’s conclusions.”
A panel for the 5th Circuit had previously upheld the ban in December of 2021. But that decision was vacated by the court in June. The case will now go before the entire court in what’s known as an en banc session.
“This unlawful regulatory action transformed more than half a million law-abiding American citizens into presumptive felons overnight. And ATF now demands that these citizens surrender their bump stocks—lawfully obtained property that, in the aggregate, represents over $100 million in purchase value—or face potential criminal liability, including prison time,” observed the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., NST Global, LLC, and B&T USA, LLC.
“This is precisely the type of regulatory behavior that, in our constitutional system, must be rigorously reviewed by the independent judiciary to ensure that only Congress, not the Executive, has ‘ma[d]e an act a crime,'” they continued.
ATF cannot rewrite definitions and outlaw popular firearm accessories on the fly. That is a bridge way, way too far. It is a regulatory agency, not a legislative body. Let us hope that the full 5th Circuit sees it that way and reins in this abuse of power.
I love how Trump was the one person who really made this happen………oh the Irony!
But Trump is so pro 2A, so he says, but does not do!
The DC circuit just validated the AFT banning bumpstocks. https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/5E97B6BA3EDEC1938525889900538B92/$file/21-5045-1958445.pdf
“The central question on appeal is whether the Bureau
had the statutory authority to interpret “machine gun” to
include bump stocks. Employing the traditional tools of
statutory interpretation, we find that the disputed rule is
consistent with the best interpretation of “machine gun” under
the governing statutes. We therefore affirm”….
“Accordingly, under the best interpretation of the statute, a
bump stock is a self-regulating mechanism that allows a
shooter to shoot more than one shot through a single pull of the
trigger. As such, it is a machine gun under the National
Firearms Act and Gun Control Act”
ATF
Are bump stocks silly? I think so…..
Is it an overreach for the government to regulate them without changing the law? I think so also…..
Did they use this regulation change as a stepping stone to redefine receivers and change that regulation? I think so….
Will they ever be satisfied with one more change or restriction on our constitutional rights? NO!
YOU MUST PUSH BACK ON EVERY CHANGE…. THE SLIPPERY SLOPE IS REAL.
They waited one week after the RINOS caved on our rights to pass another assault rifle ban on congress…..
Anyone that uses these ridiculous terms like “rhinos shows how ignorant they are….BECAUSE SOME REPUB’S ARE INTELLIGENT, BUT THEY ARE IN CONFLICT WITH YOUR SIMPLE IDEAS YOU SLAP THIS MONIKER ON THEM.
Ok, then lets carry this through and label folks like you – self-righteous, brain-dead trump ass lickers – as ‘IDIOTS,’ that is more sustainable than the labels from the 10 year old minds (always naming someone with a silly or arrogant title be cause he didn’t agree with him or they pointed out what’s a psychopath sick man he is)/\
“RINOS,”. Brother, the continued stupidity expressed here! – a great place to direct educators to view the break down in education!
Fu*ck the ATF!
WHAT STUPIDITY…ARE YOU A TOTAL IDIOT. Because you don’t like what they do, manny of us do, so your opinion is worthy of nothing because it is simply ignorance being broadcast by a fool!
Tom you seam to be a real jerk off, the term RINO ( republican in name only) is a real thing case in point Liz Cheney who is leftist piece of shit who is destroying the party. BTW a big shout out to Wyoming for voting that clown show out of office. And Tom you can GFY.
BD (he/him) seems like a rabble rouser. More importantly, the NRA isn’t represented in the article. Why not? Is the organization slipping to irrelivancy?
Because the NRA advocated for this in the beginning,challenging the ATF to do their job.
Nice Wayne, nice…
The ban on bump stocks is settled law. The sooner we accept this and move on, the sooner firearms community can move forward and find more solutions in the future. I was on this very blog arguing against bump stocks in the comments section five years ago and here I am again today. Bump stocks exist as a cheeky way to get around the very based prohibition against machine guns and fully auto fire. There is no legitimate reason for anyone to need a bump stock! Even His Orangeness understood that! The city of Las Vegas certainly understands the intrinsic danger of bump stocks. Let’s just move on from bump stocks – unless you really think you have too much ammo, it’s too cheap and you need to waste it even faster.
Right Blue Dog (he/she) nobody needs a bump stock and nobody needs a whiney little bitch like you either, yet here you are!
I have a shirt that says that.
For one thing, the bump stock doesn’t actually do what they say it does in ATF’s “determination”, and by determination I mean unauthorized ban. So there’s the question of whether the agency can completely disregard facts and plain language to come up with any determination they wish, logic be damned.
But more importantly, you apparently didn’t read the second sentence of the article, or more likely didn’t understand it, or even more likely didn’t want to face it and therefore ignored it.
The question is whether bureaucrats have the authority to expand law beyond the scope of the law’s plain text.
No, they don’t.
What do bump stocks do, exactly? They jiggle the rifle to toggle the trigger simulating, counterfeiting full auto fire. They do nothing else! The most deadly, the most injurious mass shooting was due to bump stocks! Unsafe at any speed! They serve no purpose but to circumvent the law. At least those pistol braces that those clever yokels use like stocks on SBRs have a purpose other than making SBRs – but those need to be banned too!
All right. That’s an opinion, a silly one, but an opinion. The fact is the plain wording of the law does not cover bump stocks.
Who do you think should consider updating our laws to handle such changes in technology, a politically weaponized, partisan, and corrupt division of the DOJ, or the People’s elected representatives?
That’s the point you continue to miss.
I’d like to add the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history was Wounded Knee, not Vegas. The government doesn’t like to say that because they’re the ones that did it.
Look it up. And consider changing your attitude toward government power and disarmament.
You don’t seem to serve any purpose either blue dog. Maybe you should be banned as well!!!
You should go back to being nasty haglosi’s obgyn!!!
I think I just threw up a bit , what a disturbing picture you paint Ziggy.
Nope , you and your dumbass comments need be banned.
” ….circumvent the law….” Get real will ya. You wouldn’t know the law if slapped in your 8 lb. waterhead smartguy! go away………
I sort of concur. The butt stock is a fool’s endosement of the NFA and it’s bad case history. Repeal NFA and no one would ever seek silly piece of plastic to throw inaccurate fire down range.
“The ban on bump stocks is settled law.”
You mean like Roe v Wade?
You have displayed your ignorance of both statutory law and the laws of physics. But you are in good company, as the political officials at ATF are equally ignorant, and willfully so. The actual technical experts at the FTB still believe they got it right the first time, back in the mid 2000s when they said it’s not a firearm and therefore is beyond the scope of regulation, based on statute. It’s only politicians and lawyers who have decided that their alternate reality is more important than the technical science.
One of the few comments and voices with some intelligence amidst this sea of totally ignorant losers!