Supreme Court weighs Trump ban on gun 'bump stocks'

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments on whether the federal government had the authority to ban "bump stocks," a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire more quickly.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments on whether the federal government had the authority to ban "bump stocks," a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire more quickly.

A bump stock and handguns collected during a buyback event in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles on March 4, 2023.Jill Connelly / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileThe prohibition was imposed by the Trump administration after the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017 in which Stephen Paddock used bump stock-equipped firearms to open fire on a country music festival, initially killing 58 people.

The Supreme Court in 2019 declined to block the regulation. The already conservative court has tilted further to the right since then, with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, replacing liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in 2020.

The case before the court concerns Texas-based gun owner and licensed dealer Michael Cargill, who owned two bump stocks before the ban went into effect and later surrendered them to the government. He sued, claiming that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lacked the legal authority to implement the prohibition.

Bump stocks use the recoil energy of a trigger pull to enable the user to fire up to hundreds of rounds with what the federal government calls “a single motion.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-arguments-gun-bump-stocks-rcna140672

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