Appeals Court Panel Rejects Federal Bump Stock Ban

Appeals Court Rejects ATF Interpretation of Bump Stock Ban

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been dealt a blow as a federal appeals court has rejected their interpretation of the law that bump stock devices should be considered machinegun parts and banned.

Bump stocks are devices that replace the standard stock of a semiautomatic rifle, allowing the user to fire multiple shots in rapid succession. The ATF initially determined that bump stocks were not subject to regulation, but after the tragic Las Vegas shooting in 2017, the agency began reconsidering their stance. In 2018, the ATF decided that bump stocks should be considered machinegun parts and regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

However, the ATF’s ruling sparked several lawsuits challenging their authority to issue such an interpretation of the law. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the ATF lacks the authority to ban bump stocks through their own interpretation of the existing federal law.

What is a Machinegun?

The NFA defines a machinegun as “any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.” The plaintiff in the case argued that the ATF ruling against bump stocks was invalid because bump stocks do not actually allow automatic fire, but rather enable the user of a semiautomatic rifle to fire it at a faster rate.

The judges wrote that if bump stocks are to be banned, it must be done through legislation, not through the ATF’s interpretation of the law. This ruling is a significant victory for gun rights advocates and a setback for the ATF’s efforts to regulate bump stocks.

• Bump stocks are devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire multiple shots in rapid succession.
• The ATF initially determined that bump stocks were not subject to regulation, but after the Las Vegas shooting in 2017, they began reconsidering their stance.
• The ATF’s 2018 ruling that bump stocks should be considered machinegun parts and regulated under the NFA sparked several lawsuits challenging their authority.
• A federal appeals court has unanimously ruled that the ATF lacks the authority to ban bump stocks through their own interpretation of the existing federal law.
• If bump stocks are to be banned, it must be done through legislation, not through the ATF’s interpretation of the law.