Supreme Court Smacks Down Bump Stock Ban
Supreme Court Wrap-Up In Garland v. Cargill
Description
Episode #94
Today on Legalese, we are wrapping up the Supreme Court case of Garland v. Cargill. We have been following this case here on this channel for the past 2+ years as it wound its way through the lower courts.
We now have a final resolution on the matter, as the Supreme Court, on Friday June 14, 2024 would issue their opinion on the case.
The Supreme Court would hold that a bump stock does not meet the definition of a machine under 26 U.S.C. §5845(b). As such the Trump Administration's decision to reclassify bump stocks as a machinegun through the ATF's regulatory rulemaking power was an affront to the rule of law and separation of powers.
The Court would hold that any regulation of bump stocks would have to come from Congressional legislation. As such, the ATF's attempt to ban these devices was unlawful and unconstitutional.
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Case Brief
Docket No. 22-976
Lower Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Opinion Below: Cargill v. Garland, 57 F.4th 447 (5th Cir. 2023)
Question Presented: Since 1986, Congress has prohibited the transfer or possession of any new "machinegun." 18 U.S.C. 922(o)(1). The National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5801 et seq., defines a "machinegun" as "any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger." 26 U.S.C. 5845(b). The statutory definition also encompasses "any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun." Ibid.
A "bump stock" is a device designed and intended to permit users to convert a semiautomatic rifle so that the rifle can be fired continuously with a single pull of the trigger, discharging potentially hundreds of bullets per minute. In 2018, after a mass shooting in Las Vegas carried out using bump stocks, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) published an interpretive rule concluding that bump stocks are machineguns as defined in Section 5845(b). In the decision below, the en banc Fifth Circuit held that the ATF rule was unlawful because the statutory definition of "machinegun" does not encompass bump stocks. The question presented is as follows:
Whether a bump stock device is a "machinegun" as defined in 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) because it is designed and intended for use in converting a rifle into a machinegun, i.e., into a weapon that fires "automatically more than one shot * * * by a single function of the trigger."
Holding: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a rule that classifies a bump stock as a “machinegun” under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b).
Judgment: Affirmed, 6-3, in an opinion by Justice Thomas on June 14, 2024. Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Kagan and Jackson joined.
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