The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on stock sales issued by the Trump administration after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.
The decision, by a vote of 6 to 3, split along ideological lines. Justice Clarence Thomas, representing the majority, found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its authority in device banan accessory that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire at speeds comparable to machine guns.
He added that the agency went too far in issuing regulations classifying butt stocks as machine guns.
“We hold that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a buttstock is not a ‘machine gun’ because it cannot fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger,’” Justice Thomas wrote. He has included some diagrams of the firing mechanism in the comments.
The decision is a strong rejection of one of the few steps the administration has taken to address gun violence, especially as legislative efforts stall in Congress. It also highlights deep divisions within the court on the issue as the country grapples with gun violence.
Although the case focuses on guns, this is not a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, this is one of many cases this term that seek to reduce the power of administrative agencies.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissent, along with Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Justice Sotomayor summarized his dissent from the bench, a practice reserved for profound dissents and the first announcement of this term. “The majority put machine guns back into the hands of civilians,” she said.
“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,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. “A semi-automatic rifle equipped with a pistol grip will fire ‘multiple shots automatically without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.’ Because I, like Congress, call it a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.”
The challenger is Michael Cargill, a Texas gun store owner who is backed by the New Civil Liberties Union, an advocacy group with financial ties to Charles Koch, a billionaire who has long supported political causes. conservative and liberal people. The organization primarily targets what is considered illegal use of administrative power.
Mark Chenoweth, president of the legal advocacy group, said in a statement that the organization was “delighted” that the court had sided with Mr. Cargill.
Mr. Chenoweth said: “This result is completely consistent with the Constitution assigning all legislative power to the National Assembly.” “Bump-stock opponents should direct all views in Congress and not the courts, which have faithfully applied the statute before it.”
During oral arguments in February, debate seemed to center on whether the device turned the gun into a “machine gun.” That would make the accessory banned as part of a category closely regulated by the ATF.
The judges seemed to have difficulty understanding how the grip works and how exactly it increases the gun’s rate of fire.
Under the National Firearms Act of 1934, Congress banned machine guns, defined as “any weapon that can fire, is designed to fire, or can be readily restored to fire multiple shots automatically without No manual reloading required, just a single function of the trigger. ” That definition was expanded under the Gun Control Act of 1968 to include parts that could be used to convert a weapon into a machine gun.
Until the Trump administration issued its ban, bull stocks were considered legal; Under the previous interpretation of the law, they increased the gun’s speed by sliding the stock back and forth to quickly pull the trigger, not by “a single function of the trigger” as required for machine guns.
The deadly power of this device was startling in October 2017.
That month, a reckless gambler, Stephen Paddock64 years old, sitting on the 32nd floor of one hotel in Las Vegas and opened fire at a country music festival, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds. In his arsenal there are dozens of AR-15 style rifles equipped with the device.
In about 11 minutes, he fired more than 1,000 bullets in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Investigators later said they found about a dozen rifles modified with bump stocks in his hotel room.
Political pressure to do something about the device immediately began to build. Lawmakers, including some Republicans, have suggested they may be more open to banning bump stocks. The National Rifle Association, in an unusual move, favors tighter restrictions.
President Donald J. Trump, a vocal supporter of the Second Amendment, has promised to ban the device.
Justice Department officials agreed to review the legality of the bull stocks, but ATF officials had specify separately that banning the device would most likely require action from Congress, a tough fight for any gun regulation.
In December 2018, the Trump administration announced the ban. It gives gun owners until the end of March 2019 to turn in or destroy the stocks.
Under the ban, possessing or selling gun stocks could result in a prison sentence.
Adam Liptak Report contributions.
