Fifth Circuit Destroys Bump Stock Ban
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 10 months ago
It’s good to see this one go down in the flames it should. Trump and the ATF should be ashamed. But I suspect both would defend it to this day and beyond.
Stephen Stamboulieh sends this my way a couple of days ago, but since then it has been covered by others (e.g., see Reason here and here, and reddit/Firearms here and here, and also, never forget the NRA’s position on bump stocks).
This is a very well-written and well-researched opinion and points out the distinction between a function of the trigger and function of the shooter.
BLUF:
- A bump stock does not turn a semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun by the statutory definition of machine gun.
- Even if the Fifth Circuit is wrong, the ATF lacked the authority to make this change.
- We have no business deferring to the authority of the federal regulators to make this determination since there is no lack of clarity on this issue. The issue is perfectly clear – a rifle outfitted with a bump stock is not a machine gun.
Elsewhere, the ATF is becoming tepid over their upcoming rulemaking on unserialized firearms.
Yet the move, which the Justice Department described as a clarification of the regulation, is not without risk. Because the rule was created through executive action, rather than a statute validated by Congress, it has given companies confidence that they can keep selling individual gun parts.
Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss possible litigation, said the new guidance would almost certainly be challenged in federal court on the grounds that it violates the Gun Control Act of 1968, which allows people to build firearms for their personal use without submitting to background checks or applying serial numbers.
Their upcoming rulemaking on unserialized firearms not only violates prior statutory law, it now suffers from the Fifth Circuit decision on bump stocks, which says that the ATF lacked the authority to inflict this new regulation on the American public.
Queue up the same thing for unserialized firearms. And a thousand other lawsuits.
The only problem with the Fifth Circuit decision is that it applies only to states controlled by the Fifth Circuit.
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On January 8, 2023 at 11:45 pm, Dan said:
Because of conflicting rulings this will likely end up before the SCOTUS, hopefully before Thomas retires and is replaced by the left with a flaming commie. Once the left…who will now forever control the White House….finishes packing that court with it’s hand selected commie associates ANY ‘gun control’ issue that comes before it will be summarily ruled in favor of. It’s not an if….just a when.
On January 9, 2023 at 10:40 pm, Heywood said:
@Dan
Sadly, you are correct. People placing their hope in a bunch of black robed tyrants (HT Herschel) will be sorely disappointed.