Austin gun store owner wins fight to overturn bump stock ban

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An Austin gun store owner succeeded in a years-long quest Friday to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks, winning a 6-3 victory in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bump Stocks are devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire hundreds of rounds in a minute. The court ruled that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could not include bump stocks as part of the legislation banning machine guns. The ATF's rescinded rule required owners of replacement stocks to destroy them or turn them over to the ATF to avoid criminal prosecution.

The case was filed by Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works and a staunch advocate of gun rights in Texas, after he surrendered two bump stocks to the ATF. He argued that the ATF misidentified bump stocks as machine guns and overstepped its authority in banning them. He brought the case with the support of the advocacy group New Civil Liberties Alliance.

“This is a big victory for everyone in the country. Whether you’re pro-gun, anti-gun just isn’t about guns,” Cargill told the Texas Tribune. “It’s an administrative agency that decides to create a law and administrative agencies don’t have the authority to do that. Only Congress can do this.

The nearly 100-year-old law banning machine guns defines weapon as “any weapon that fires, is designed to fire, or can be easily restored to fire, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.” The ATF began including bump stocks in the definition of “machine gun” under the Trump administration in response to the deadly shootings on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017.

“We believe that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a 'machine gun' because it cannot fire more than one shot 'by a single pull of the trigger,'” wrote Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion. “And, even if he could, but he wouldn't do it 'automatically.'

Cargill said it had to take on the case as the sole plaintiff because “no one wanted to help,” including the National Rifle Association. Cargill noted that at the time of the ban, Donald Trump was president and those he hoped would support him “didn't want to oppose Trump.”

“I view the Second Amendment as a people’s right. I don’t care who the president is, who’s in office, and who’s in charge,” Cargill said. “It was wrong. I was going to fight him. I'm glad I did it. I did everything myself.

This case is not directly about the Second Amendment but rather about limits on the authority of executive agencies, an approach that Cargill defends despite being told by some gun advocates that it should have taken “a position more tied to the Second Amendment.”

“I had to think about this case intelligently, using our brains and not thinking about just taking away the Second Amendment,” he said.

Once President Joe Biden took office and the case continued to advance to the Supreme Court, Cargill began to enjoy greater support.

The decision was a blow to gun control groups, many of whom expressed disappointment and concern Friday.

“Make no mistake: this decision is dangerous, outdated and WILL COST lives. We urge Texas lawmakers to take immediate action to close the loopholes in our gun laws that allow for the legal possession of such dangerous devices,” wrote Texas Gun Sense, a firearms prevention and advocacy group. gun violence, in an article on X.com.

According to Cargill, it will get back its two surrendered replacement stocks after going to a lower court for a settlement. His store plans to resell back-up inventory as soon as he is able to have it shipped to the store.

After the ruling, journalists and enthusiastic customers looking to congratulate Cargill flooded his store, he said. Excited by the decision, Cargill hid in his car to answer calls from the Texas Tribune and others.

In an X.com video, Cargill expressed hope that the move would prevent the ATF from banning other firearm accessories like braces and triggers.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, disagreed with the majority's interpretation. She wrote: “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. »

She argued that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a stock meets the definition of a machine gun because it fires “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”

As debates over gun control and Second Amendment rights continue, this decision underscores the ongoing tension between legislative intent and regulatory authority.

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