‘Bump stocks’ gun issue will be heard by the US Supreme Court

Arguments over the constitutionality of “bump stocks,” which are basic devices that enable automatic firing from ordinarily semi-automatic firearms, will be heard by the US Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Strong gun rights legislation are in place in the nation, and the conservative-majority high court has already overturned many gun control initiatives.

The lawsuit is related to October 2017, the worst mass shooting in US history, in which a shooter opened fire on a crowd of people attending an outdoor music performance in Las Vegas, Nevada, using weapons fitted with bump stocks, leaving 58 people dead and around 500 injured.

The incident caused astonishment, even by US standards, where gun violence is widespread and there are more weapons than residents.

In response, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms revised its laws pertaining to bump stocks, stating in December 2018 that they were prohibited as machine guns and that possessing one was therefore illegal.During the Trump administration, the ATF and the Justice Department collaborated to rule detachable devices unlawful.

That year, there had been another extremely horrific mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, which claimed the lives of 17.

However, the ATF regulation was contested in court almost right once, and it has now made its way all the way to the Supreme Court in a case involving Texas gun dealer Michael Cargill and President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.

In written comments, US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar stated, “A bump stock turns a semiautomatic rifle into a weapon that shoots hundreds of bullets per minute with a single pull of the trigger.”Legal representation for Cargill contends that the ATF overreached itself and that designating bump stocks as machine guns “is a decision for Congress to make, not agencies or courts.”
Though there are still certain restrictions on the practice, the Supreme Court earlier upheld Americans’ basic right to carry a pistol in public in a 2022 decision.

A legislation prohibiting gun ownership by those subject to domestic abuse court orders was declared unlawful in March 2023 by a conservative federal appeals court.

This year, the Supreme Court will also make a decision on that matter. After hearing arguments in November, it appeared probable that the justices would maintain the domestic violence legislation.According to polls, the majority of Americans want tougher gun laws; nevertheless, legislative action has been hampered by the nation’s strong gun culture and the influential weapons lobby.