ATF Admits No Legal Authority For Bump Stock Ruling

[txradioguy]

Show of hands, who has been paying attention to the various lawsuits dealing with the ATF’s reinterpretation of Bump Stocks? Because to be completely honest, I haven’t been paying as much attention as I clearly should have been. In their most recent court filing, the ATF has admitted some truly explosive news. Namely, they concede that they do not have the authority to reinterpret the definition of machine guns in the bump stock ruling under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

Let’s back up and provide some context. So, on December 26th, 2018, the ATF issued a final ruling on “bump stocks”. A bump-stock is a device that allows an operator of a firearm to simulate automatic fire by muscle power. While previously the ATF had decided that bump-fire or slide-fire stocks were legal devices, they then reclassified them as illegal machineguns. All current owners were ordered to destroy them. If you did not do so, you faced up to 10 years in federal prison.

Naturally, a lot of people became somewhat ticked off that the ATF would seemingly arbitrarily change their ruling to make thousands of Americans potential felons overnight. As a result, many people filed lawsuits. One such lawsuit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of plaintiff W. Clark Aposhian.

<snip>

The statutory scheme does not, however, appear to provide the Attorney General the authority to engage in “gap-filling” interpretations of what qualifies as a “machinegun”. Congress has provided a detailed definition of the term “machinegun”…

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/09/21/atf-bump-stock-ruling/

[Smokin Joe]

This is what I have been saying all along.

The addition of a gun stock does not materially change the function of the firearm, and does not turn a semi-automatic (one pull of the trigger per round fired) into a machine gun (multiple rounds fired while the trigger is held down).

By itself, the stock is incapable of firing a single round of ammunition.

With the stock, the ability of the average person to operate the firearm efficiently in enhanced, making them more able to pull the trigger at a rate more in keeping with theoretical rates of fire, but the function of the firearm remains as it was without the addition of the stock: one pull of the trigger per round fired.

[txradioguy]

This is what I have been saying all along.

The addition of a gun stock does not materially change the function of the firearm, and does not turn a semi-automatic (one pull of the trigger per round fired) into a machine gun (multiple rounds fired while the trigger is held down).

By itself, the stock is incapable of firing a single round of ammunition.

With the stock, the ability of the average person to operate the firearm efficiently in enhanced, making them more able to pull the trigger at a rate more in keeping with theoretical rates of fire, but the function of the firearm remains as it was without the addition of the stock: one pull of the trigger per round fired.

The one question that's not answered in the article from what I could see is what does this do to Trump's EO/memorandum on bumpstocks?

I'm guessing nothing unfortuneately.

[Smokin Joe]

The one question that's not answered in the article from what I could see is what does this do to Trump's EO/memorandum on bumpstocks?

I'm guessing nothing unfortuneately.

I'm not sure.
I noted the flaw in the way the whole thing was written up, and while it is possible that was intentional to make this something that could be challenged and overturned (saving optics, but gutting the edict), I'm not sure that was the intent. I'd be thrilled to find out that was the case (although I'm not sure I'd trust that).

Someone once said to never credit diabolical genius where mere stupidity would suffice, and ignorance of firearms seems endemic in the halls of government, especially among those who claim they want to eliminate private ownership.
 
Unfortunately, the bump stock ruling did not sate the drive for more gun control laws, it only seems to have encouraged the usual suspects in their efforts to deny our civil rights.