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A Trump administration ban on bump stocks – devices that enable a shooter to rapidly fire multiple rounds from semi-automatic weapons after an initial trigger pull – was struck down Friday by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.
The ban was instituted after a sniper using bump stock-equipped weapons massacred dozens of people in Las Vegas in 2017. Gun rights advocates have challenged it in multiple courts. The ruling by the 16-member 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals is the latest on the issue, which is likely to be decided at the Supreme Court.
It’s a firearm issue that involves not the Second Amendment but the interpretation of federal statutes. Opponents of the ban argued that bump stocks do not fall under the definition of illegal machine guns in federal law. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says they do, a position now being defended by the Biden administration.
