The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on Friday nullified the Trump administration’s federal prohibition on bump stocks. The conservative majority is continuing their tendency to reduce gun control measures, and this decision is just another example of that.
The liberal justices of the court, headed by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, disagreed with the 6-3 majority judgment that was written by Justice Clarence Thomas.
In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas massacre, in which a gunman utilized bump stocks to discharge more than 1,000 rounds in eleven minutes, killing fifty-eight people, the Trump administration passed the ban. With a bump stock, a semi-automatic rifle can fire as quickly as an automatic gun.
Since the trigger must still be released and reengaged for every shot, Justice Thomas contended that bump stocks do not transform semi-automatic rifles into machine guns. He stressed that the gadget doesn’t change the way the gun works, which is still using one pull of the trigger for each shot.
After turning over two bump stocks to the authorities and then litigating to get them back, Michael Cargill, who owns a gun store in Texas, contested the ban. The prohibition had made it a crime to own bump stocks, with penalties of up to ten years in jail.
The decision might have disastrous effects, Justice Sotomayor said in her dissenting opinion, undermining government attempts to regulate machine weapons. Using the tragic incident in Las Vegas as an example, she brought attention to the fatal effects of bump stocks.
Those who fought for stricter gun laws also panned the ruling. The Giffords Law Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence’ Esther Sanchez-Gomez has demanded that lawmakers do something to keep these devices off the market. Also expressing their disgust and warning about the dangers of bump stocks were Brady United and Everytown for Gun Safety.
On the other side, those who were against the prohibition said that it couldn’t be enforced by the federal government without the consent of Congress. The judgment was lauded by National Rifle Association member Randy Kozuch for limiting administrative overreach. When asked about the prohibition, Cargill’s representative Mark Chenoweth of the New Civil Liberties Alliance said it should be passed by the legislature and not by the regulatory bodies.
The Supreme Court has now decided whether bump stocks are machine guns under the law, which had been the main point of contention in the case. The conservative majority’s impact on the nation’s weapons policy has been highlighted by this judgment, which is the most recent in a string of rulings in favor of gun rights.
