The U.S. Supreme Court has invalidated a ban on bump stocks instituted in 2017 following a mass shooting in Las Vegas. The decision was reached by a 6-3 vote, with the majority concluding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) had exceeded its statutory authority by categorizing bump stocks as machine guns.
The dissent was led by left-wing Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and the far-left Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The case originated from a challenge by Michael Cargill, a Texas gun shop owner, supported by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, an advocacy group linked to libertarian financier Charles Koch. The ban had made possession or sale of bump stocks punishable by prison time.
Bump stocks increase firing speeds by sliding the stock back and forth, facilitating rapid trigger pulls, which does not meet the definition of a machine gun.
