On Friday, the Supreme Court decided that a semiautomatic rifle does not become a “machine gun,” as defined by federal law, just because it has a “bump stock” attachment. The 6-3 vote was consistent with the supermajority’s other rulings in gun-related matters, including its 2022 decision to increase gun rights.
After deciding that bump stocks should be considered machine weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives overreached its jurisdiction, the court ruled. The public can now once more obtain bump stocks.
Following the dozens-killed mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017, the ATF released a rule stating that rifles with bump stocks should be considered machine weapons under the law, as they have been prohibited since 1986.
A semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock is not a fully automatic machine gun, according to Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority judgment. According to definitions, a machine gun is a weapon that can fire many shots “by a single function of the trigger,” which bump stock modifications cannot accomplish.
