Photo Courtesy of Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

In another giant blow to gross executive overreach, the U.S. Supreme court earlier this morning struck down the bump stock ban instituted by the Department of Justice under the Trump Administration.

The vote on the matter was 6-to-3 in determining that the federal government was wrong to classify bump stocks as “machine guns.”

In his opinion for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote what most people who understand and are familiar with firearms have been thinking all along.

“Semi-automatic firearms, which require shooters to reengage the trigger for every shot, are not machine guns,” Justice Thomas wrote. “This case asks whether a bump stock—an accessory for a semi-automatic rifle that allows the shooter to rapidly reengage the trigger (and therefore achieve a high rate of fire)—converts the rifle into a ‘machine gun.’ We hold that it does not.

“A bump stock does not convert a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun any more than a shooter with a lightning-fast trigger finger does.”

Thomas further wrote: “We hold that a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a ‘machine gun’ because it cannot fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger.’ And, even if it could, it would not do so ‘automatically. ATF therefore exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a Rule that classifies bump stocks as machineguns.”

The case, Garland v. Cargill, revolved around the bump stock ban instituted by the DOJ and ATF after a horrible mass murder in Las Vegas in 2017. While instituted by the Trump Administration, the Biden Administration has been defending the ban in court.

Writing for the liberal minority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the majority justices for a decision that she said would lead to “deadly consequences.”

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck,” Justice Sotomayor wrote. “A bump-stock-equipped semi-automatic rifle fires ‘automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.’ Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.”

Justice Sotomayor was joined on the minority by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Along with Justice Thomas, other justices voting with the majority included John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

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91 COMMENTS

  1. About time! This should have huge consequences on the ATF and get them back to being an enforcement agency and not a rule maker to disarm and intimidate law abiding citizens. I hope this has a big impact on the stupid pistol brace rules they did to classify them as SBR and deep sixing that for good too.

    • Hope in One Hand, Dookie in the Other Hand and see which hand fills up the quickest.

      BATF is never going to change until the top 25% of management is fired and replaced by folks who obey the Constitution…….and that’s not likely to happen.

  2. My quick read of the ruling makes me think that this will apply to other devices that simply “accelerate the rate of fire”. Such as FRT’s, rubber bands, and belt loops. It may even apply to Glock switches.

  3. What about the fact that these government agencies don’t have the authority to issue rules and regulations, a function reserved for congress?

    • Ironically it was members of Congress from both parties that built the federal bureaucratic complex for just that purpose so they could get regulations enacted that didn’t require their vote and thus face the ire of their constituents. It is only thanks to President Trump’s appointments to the Supreme Court that interrupt the Constitution as written rather than an interpreted liberal version that we are beginning to see a stoppage put to government overreach and the redefinition of the Rights of the people. Along with the limitations put on government as define in it’s Amendments.

      • Which reminds me to keep an eye out for rio…..erm protest season this election year.

    • This makes it even more critical that the right people get elected in House, Senate, and Presidential elections.

      We don’t want a Legislature or Executive that will make things worse.

    • That is the precise basis on which the decision stands–that the ATF does not have the authority to legislate. Contrary to what J. Sotomayor said, this does not mean that the government cannot ban bump stocks; it only means that Congress has to pass the ban, not the ATF.

    • Obama GAVE them the authority in one of his first Executive Orders.

      Overreach is occurring in every branch & department of the US Federal Government, it’s NOT just BATF.

  4. And then all the fascist states outlaw gas operated firearmns.
    We can’t win.
    I’m going look pretty silly with a bumpstock attached to my Biden approved double barreled shotgunm.
    BAHBOOM, wow that was fast.

    • Biden use to approve of double barrel shotguns, a decade ago. His puppet masters probably no longer approve of them. Nothing is fixed when you reject objective reality . Remember that Barack Obama use to oppose ghey mirage.

  5. hotcakes…
    theyre going to sell hotcakes
    at least for a little while
    because nothing makes people want to buy something more
    than the government going to these lengths to ban them

      • Though I’d love one I’ll take a pass just because of the cost of ammo.

  6. Like I said since Vegas an EO can be undone easier than an act of congress which at the time would have included much more than bumpstocks. It was and is still pathetic how so many knee jerk politically inept gun talking blowbags failed to dig deeper than the bumpstock headlines and joined hands with TRUMP slandering democRats…Keep the same old sht up and screw America with 4 more years of democRats running the show and blowbags will find out what Gun Control means.

    TRUMP 2024.

    • No we don’t need silencers and semiautos banned. That’s next on Trumps list along with due process. Repeating the same lies over and over gets old. Trump is at best dangerous for gun rights.

      • And that would be better with Biden? I am a bit more focused on Congress/Senate for gun laws and judicial appointments. Trump is a bit player for gun rights or hostilities. Biden on the other hand has a hate boner that rivels the green weenie for not liking freedom or fun.

    • It wasn’t an executive order that was overturned, it was an ATF determination.

      Still singing the same dumb song, Trump sacrifices you to save you, 4d chess…blah blah blah.

      If he had stood his ground like he was elected to do, it wouldn’t now be an issue for this election with a far lamer house, senate, and president holding the keys.

    • Lame excuses for swallowing the ship sandwiches are lame.

      FDJT is no friend of the 2A. He never was. The difference between FDJT and FJB is while Dodo is only s single ship sandwich old potato joe is a double-decker ship sandwich. ..But keep swallowing the koolaid and carrying water for FDJT and his soft-pedal anti gun agenda At least he isn’t as radically anti-RKBS as Joe and his hoe.

      Take a great big bite of that sandwich and smile for the camera while chewing. That ain’t spinach you’ve got stuck between your teeth

  7. “Justice Sotomayor was joined on the minority by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.”

    Why you don’t put prog bimbos in charge of ANYTHING.

    • All four bimbos should be disallowed from serving on the bench. Women’s heads get too overheated and emotional for a job like this ACB, a so-called conservative justice and supposedly an “originalist” (in name only) is so weak tea on the 2A she should be lumped in with the other three dumb broads on the court as unqualified to serve in this capacity. Woman’s suffrage was the beginning of the end for this Republic.

  8. Gotta love reading the dissent. These people would never have fallen on the right side, no matter how obvious this case was. They look for every justification to further their political faction and will ignore basic engineering, linguistics, and ethics to do so.

    • Agendas do not push themselves…… something the conservative side quickly forgets (or is controlled oppositioned into never prioritizing)

    • “When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck,” Justice Sotomayor wrote, adding, “even when the duck turns out to be a swan or a goose, or a witch that weighs the same as a duck, because I’m literally the stupidest person alive.”

  9. I want to see more of these type of rulings.
    “… therefore exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a Rule …”

    Federal agencies must show in a law from Congress where they have the authority to make the rule, regulation or policy.

    If Trump gets elected, the new agency heads ought to have a Federalist department that evaluates every existing rule, regulation and policy for statutory authority.

  10. What I heard this morning was that a government agency could not decide on its own the definition of a machine gun. That this is the function of the ELECTED government bodies, not the deep state. This ruling could certainly change other things that the ATF has deemed on its own in the past to be illegal.

    • And also today, the 5th Circuit extended the injunction against the ATF’s pistol brace ban to prevent enforcement nationwide. ATF got a good double-handslapping today.

  11. Thank you to President Bush, who appointed judge Thomas, and stood by him. When the “knives” came out to kill him.

    And to the worthless libertarians who supported Judge Brown. Who was incapable of answering the question.
    “What is a woman?”

    And who nominated a gun toting hom.osex.ual communist, to lead their party.

    • Ironically Bush is as FUDD as they come. Then the train wreck of a son, like Hunter only dumber. Other than that he’s a great guy 🤣 But I’d expect nothing less from you. As always like the greatest Republican shitbags.

      • Those republicans you hate so much, made permitless carry the law of the land. In more than half the country.

        On the other hand the se.xually libera.ted atheis.t democrats, are take civil rights away. In the remaining states.

        • And sold the 4th amendment down the river. We have a lot of deadwood to clear in the Republican party.

        • Actually I watched california be destroyed by so.cial.ist pro.gress.ive hom.osexu@ls and ath.eists .

          They are the enemy of Liberty. And it was President Eisenhower who said that.

      • I’ve been a vocal NONfan of W, but let’s keep it real. W wouldn’t have taken that incriminating laptop to some random company for repairs, and then proceed to LEAVE it there! C’mon man. It doesn’t get much dumber than that.

        • W went through the necessary steps to get clean and sober. Not so much for Hunter. The Left hate people who stop using drugs/alcohol. But they love addicts like Hunter.

        • He didn’t just “leave it there” because ge forgot about it -he left it there AFTER the guy fixed it for him because he didn’t want to pay for the work that was done. Hunter stuck the business owner with the coats and just abandoned his property rather than pay his bills. What an entitled piece of work.

    • You don’t and it’s your fault you surrendered it.
      Law abiding when the law is illegal, and now here you are.

      • Double moderation…I feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis!

    • possum is right on this…if you don’t want to lose something, don’t give it to the folks who want to destroy it. Also by surrendering it you have given them all the proof they need to to make your life unhappy. Fortunately you are only out the price of the plastic d0-thingie. In the future don’t take legal advice from the AFT as that might be un-healthy.

    • Sue them, it would be nice if a Pro-2A firm instituted a “class-action” suit, bleed the BATFE dry and file criminal charges something akin to “unlawful taking” against every agency head and lackey who blackmailed owners into surrendering lawfully owned accessories.

  13. I was told by the smartest people in the room, that voting doesn’t matter. I hope they enjoy their legal bu.tt S.ex and government provided drugs. “Free” medical marijuana. And now it seems “free” alcohol as well.

    They are all wonderful distractions. In the book “1984” the government provided “free” alcohol as well. Or they as least promoted the use of Intoxicans.

    Also sports distractions. Like racist black lesbi@n WNBA players, beating up on a white straight player.

    “Why it’s Ok to not vote.” Catherine Mangu Ward. A great libertarian. Video 50 min long.
    https://youtu.be/KSmBG1uU1ig?si=XHHdRBS9uFJsZ-t7

  14. Well look what I just found. My bumpstock that I lost in that boating accident.
    big(smile)

  15. Ah…

    I though I was hearing gun fire…apparently it was just libtard heads exploding with anger.

    • I think you are hearing gunfire. Libtard heads exploding sounds more like cow shit hitting a barn wall

  16. What I don’t understand is, how can the SCoTUS say they’re allowed and states still ban them?

    • Some states got legal marijuana and its against Federal law.
      Some states ban high capacity magazines and it’s not against federal law.
      Don’t ask me how it works.
      I guess a State can tell the Federal government to get fcked?

    • “…how can…”

      Technically, SCOTUS didn’t find that bumpstocks are allowed. In short, they found that the process and reasoning used by AFT in redefining them as “machineguns” and thus being subject to NFA regulation were violations of existing federal law.

  17. It’s a shame that objectively stupid justices are present on the Supreme Court. The ruling spells out factually how bump stocks LITERALLY cannot be a machinegun under the definition of the word, and the dissenting retort is “this thing which does not do what a machine gun does, does what a machine gun does.”

    “A bump-stock-equipped semi-automatic rifle fires ‘automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.’ Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.”

  18. “When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck,”

    Sure, and when you see a guy walk like a woman, swim like a woman, and speak like a woman, you call him a woman. Of course, anyone with any common sense still calls him a guy because that is what he is. This broad has definition confusion

  20. 1:50pm 3/23/2018

    Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.

          • ……so no? Always tough to tell if the June trolls are senior capstone projects lacking creativity, paid trolls, or goofballs who suddenly discovered free time or this site.

          • Cut & paste halfwit doesn’t have any other hobbies. Momma brings it hot pockets and it spanks the keys all day in the basement. That’s all its got.

            • I just find it funny he thinks no one remembers Obama only allowing anything in favor of gun rights when he absolutely needed the funding measures approved.

    • It will trickle down to the States in time. Just like the Bruen decision has. And the States will try to fight it, but they will lose eventually.

      • Maybe, maybe not. SCOTUS merely found that AFT can’t redefine them as being “machineguns” and thus be subject to NFA regulation. Conceivably, legislation, ordinances or regulations that either regulate, or outright ban them based on the NFA definition of “machinegun” should also fall. If they are banned for some other reason, then maybe, maybe not.

  22. “Without manual reloading”? What the hell kind of semi-auto is Sotomayor referring to? She seems to be confusing a single-shot or lever/bolt action with a semi. Once again firearm ignorance rears its head in legal decisions.

  23. Are you talking about the Trump numb stock ban?

    Abolish the ATF, FBI, DOJ and IRS then I’ll know your serious.

  24. Sotomayor was a complete idiot on this subject, zero understanding of how a semi-auto firearm works or how a bump-stock works when on a semi-auto rifle or the meaning of ‘machine gun’ in what congress passed. But, if there is ever case for a duck that comes to SCOTUS then Sotomayor is ready to go.

  25. This was the right ruling.

    Lawmakers make laws; law enforcement just enforces them.

    I likely disagree with most of you on gun control.

    I’d like the cops to have more power to keep us safe from the crook and the mugger and the carjacker and the gang member.

    But lawmakers have to give cops this power; cops can’t just take it for themselves.

  26. Great news but more for restricting agencies from making their own laws and not Congress. What we really need is SCOTUS to overturn CA’s semi auto rifle ban, CA’s standard capacity magazine ban and the handgun roster.

  27. Thanks SCOTUS for overturning the flagrantly unconstitutional ATF ban on bumpstocks. I really wish SCOTUS could hear such obviously unconstitutional cases like this sooner and make their rulings a lot faster.

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