Supreme Court Upholds Fifth Circuit Decision; Puts Bump Stocks Back Into Civilian Hands

In The Deadliest Mass Shooting In Modern American History, Bump Stocks Were Used To Kill 60 People And Wound Nearly 500 Others

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2024 – Today the Supreme Court announced its decision in Garland v. Cargill, affirming the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to strike down a rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that regulated the production, sale, and possession of bump stocks — devices that enable semiautomatic firearms to be converted into machine guns. In a 6-3 decision, the Justices wrote that the rule exceeded ATF’s authority because “bump stocks are not machine guns as defined by law.”

In 2017, in the nation’s deadliest modern mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a gunman used firearms equipped with bump stocks to fire more than 1,000 bullets, kill 60 people, and wound hundreds of others. After this massacre, ATF issued a rule clarifying that bump stocks are categorized as machine guns under the federal Gun Control Act and the National Firearm Act.

Kris Brown, President of Brady said:

“Today, the Supreme Court has decided to put bump stocks back into civilian hands. These accessories turn semi-automatic weapons into the functional equivalent of machine guns — weapons that have been regulated by Congress since the 1930s. The move to prohibit the sale and use of bump stocks was done at the direction of the Trump administration with broad bipartisan support because it was clear that the availability of such weapons could only lead to death and destruction. The Supreme Court’s decision has not only stripped the ATF — the sole federal agency with oversight over the gun industry — of its power to uphold long-standing gun laws, but it has inevitably put American lives in danger.”

Brady previously joined three of the nation’s leading gun violence prevention organizations in filing two amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court advocating for Justices to take up the case and overturn the Fifth Circuit’s dangerous decision. We also call on Congress to take action. They must immediately pass H.R. 396, Closing The Bump Stock Loophole, led by Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.