Claim: Bump stocks and similar devices are just a crappy novelty that don’t have the same effect as machine guns banned in the 1930s.
Reality: Bump stocks are not toys or novelties. They’re purpose-designed devices to increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic rifles, effectively converting them into machine guns otherwise federally banned.
A bump stock was used by the Las Vegas shooter in 2017, resulting in a body count so horrific that there was a general bipartisan consensus that they should be outlawed throughout the nation. An executive order under the administration of The Former Guy requested that the ATF reclassify weapons with bump stocks as effective machine guns, similar to those banned ones used by gangsters during the Great Depression. The ATF did so, and the Biden administration did not ask them to reverse the decision.
A Supreme Court ruling, 6-3 in favour of the conservative majority, lifted the federal ban in 2024 based on dodgy legal technicalities and effective technical gunwanking (see above) to “prove” that firearms with bump stocks do not meet the federal definition of a machine gun. The plaintiff was a Texas gun shop owner supposedly concerned about regulatory overreach by the ATF. They used some of the same bad-faith arguments listed in this topic.
Other spurious arguments related to this issue:
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States can still outlaw the devices, so why worry? Because these dangerous devices purchased in a place where they’re legal can travel across state lines.
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Bump firing can be done without the devices (e.g. by using a belt to get the same effect), so why ban this particular device? Because it’s purpose-designed to increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic weapon. (see also above).
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A federal ban on bump stocks should be done through legislation rather than regulation, so this decision is acceptable. The executive order approach was taken to give GOP Congresspeople who wouldn’t have voted for the law political cover. The devices are dangerous and need to be banned, and if Congress won’t do it then an ATF regulation from the executive is an acceptable alternative.
