Bump Stock Ban Unconstitutional

Aaron Spuler is a firearms enthusiast and recreational shooter. Follow more or his work at The Weapon Blog

A divided federal appeals court in Ohio ruled that former President Donald Trump’s ban on bump stocks is unconstitutional and should no longer be enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

The Trump administration first issued the regulation in 2018 approximately a year after a shooter used bump stocks on his rifles to carry out a mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and hundreds injured. Bump stocks, federal officials argued, modified semi-automatic rifles enough to be classified as machine guns, which U.S. civilians are prohibited from owning without special federal permission, and required quick action from the Department of Justice to make it a felony offense to own or use one. Those who had bump stocks at the time the rule was issued were ordered to destroy or surrender the gun modifiers to ATF.

The newest ruling out of the Sixth Circuit, however, grants the movant, Gun Owners of America, a preliminary injunction against the order, affirming the group’s concerns that the federal regulation violated the “Administrative Procedure Act, the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause, and the 14th Amendment’s right to due process.”

Read the rest of the article: https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/26/federal-appeals-court-rules-trumps-bump-stock-ban-is-unconstitutional/