US Supreme Court overturns mass stockpile ban

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down a federal rule imposed by the Trump administration banning bull stocks. The court split along ideological lines, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

Bump Stocks are devices that attach to semi-automatic weapons. The device includes a spring mechanism that bounces the weapon forward with each shot. The recoil of the firing weapon forces it to recoil, “bumping” the shooter's trigger finger and allowing continuous fire, similar to automatic weapons.

In 2018, the Trump administration amended Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) rules to clarify that bump stocks fall within the definition of “machine gun” because the device allows a shooter to fire continuously with a single trigger. to pull. The rule was changed following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, where a man using semi-automatic weapons equipped with bump stocks killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.

In the case Garland v, Cargill, the plaintiff, Michael Cargill, filed a lawsuit challenging the rule change arguing that ATF did not have statutory authority to promulgate the rule change because a bump stock is not a machine gun. The Supreme Court's conservative majority agreed.

“A semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock does not fire more than one shot “per a single trigger function.” With or without a stock, a shooter must release and reset the trigger between each shot,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a majority opinion. “And any subsequent shots fired after the trigger has been released and reset are the result of a separate and distinct “trigger function.” All a bump stock does is speed up the rate of fire by causing these distinct “functions”.[s]” of the trigger occur in rapid succession… We conclude that the semi-automatic rifle equipped with a humped stock is not a “machine gun” because it does not fire more than one shot “by a single function of the trigger”.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“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. A semi-automatic rifle equipped with a stock fires “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single trigger function.” Because I, like Congress, call it a machine gun, I respectfully disagree,” she wrote.

The reaction from Connecticut Democrats was swift and critical.

“This is a terrible decision by the United States Supreme Court and is the exact reason we need Congress to pass strong federal laws to prevent gun violence, including mass shootings “Governor Ned Lamont said in a statement. “Bump stocks essentially transform firearms into automatic weapons for the sole purpose of massacring human beings. These devices have no civilian or self-defense purpose. I would like to clarify that Connecticut continues to have a law prohibiting the sale, purchase, possession and manufacture of variable-stock devices in our state and that today's decision has no impact on that. But even though our state has strong laws, today's ruling leaves us with a patchwork of individual laws when what we really need is federal action to prevent gun violence.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal was more direct in his comments.

“The Roberts Court has just legalized machine guns on American streets,” he said in a statement. “Mass storage devices are multipliers of crime and carnage and should be completely banned. If the Court will not allow law enforcement to take entirely reasonable steps to remove weapons of war from our streets, then Congress must act.”

Senate President Martin Looney, a New Haven Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, a Norwalk Democrat, took aim at Republicans in their joint statement.

“When Republicans win their cases in an increasingly reactionary and politicized court, they gleefully increase the risks of gun violence across our country,” they said. “Republicans want this result, given that Republicans in the House of Representatives refuse to even put to a vote the prospect of a replacement stockpile ban. In Connecticut, the sale and possession of wholesale inventory is prohibited. But throughout our country? We fear the consequences of these actions.

Meanwhile, gun advocates in the state celebrated the decision.

“Attorney General Tong referred earlier today to bull stocks, “however you define them.” This casual disregard for accuracy in drafting and enforcing laws prohibiting firearms and their accessories raises critical questions about what items are and are not prohibited in Connecticut,” said Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, in a press release. “Governor Lamont also said bump stocks turn firearms into automatic weapons. This is completely false, as the Supreme Court's 42-page ruling clearly explains. If Connecticut residents want a real debate about gun policies aimed at truly reducing violence, ideological anti-gun politicians need to stop misnaming civilian-owned firearms and distort easily verifiable facts, as they are wont to do in this state. SCOTUS has made it clear that our government should start being honest with the public about what guns and their various parts and accessories do and don't do. AG Tong and the governor would do well to listen.