Bump Stock Boomerang?

Anyone following gun regulations is very likely to be feeling some déjà vu. On June 14, 2024, the Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 to strike down the existing ban on bump stocks. Like the Sig Brace, the bump stock has enjoyed notoriety for its position in legal limbo as the ATF and judicial branch battle it out over its regulation.

The National Firearms Act has long restricted the possession and use of machine guns, with other accessories such as suppressors added to it over time. However, the road to regulating accessories has been fraught with contradictions and confusion. So how did the humble bump stock come to garner so much attention?

The beginnings of the Bump stock

The bump stock has a complicated history. First invented by Marine veteran Bill Akins, the device initially received support from the ATF assuring him that the device was legal. After he invested his life savings into the manufacturing of the accessory, dubbed the “Akins Accelerator,” the agency reversed course and deemed it illegal in 2005.

The crux of their argument for banning the accessory was that it enabled the shooter to release multiple rounds of ammunition with a single pull of the trigger. This would seem to render the weapon with which the accelerator was attached a machine gun. Under the Gun Control Act, it is unlawful for someone other than law enforcement or military to use or possess a machine gun manufactured after 1986.

A machine gun is defined by the National Firearms Act as “any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.” Language is also included in the act specifying that parts such as frames or receivers that convert a weapon into a machine gun are likewise prohibited.

How the bump stock functions

The bump stock functions using an internal spring, which pushes back on the recoil of the rifle to reposition it so it can fire another round. It requires constant finger pressure on the trigger to keep the mechanism functioning. It is common practice for inventors or manufacturers of new technology to request “opinion letters” from the ATF, stating whether they consider an item to be legal.

Once Mr. Akins received the letters, he began to manufacture until the ATF released another letter in 2005 stating their change of opinion. The entire process began again when a new company, Slide Fire Solutions, began to manufacture its iteration of the bump stock. It was initially “approved” by the ATF due to its lack of recoil spring. After a slew of legal battles amid competing companies, Slide Fire emerged as the leading bump stock manufacturer, with its president, Jeremiah Cottle, holding the only official patent.

Vegas shootings

Slide Fire began selling their bump stocks in 2010 with an ATF opinion letter in hand deeming them regulated as firearm parts, rather than machine guns.  On October 1, 2017, bump stocks were thrust into the national spotlight when a gunman opened fire into a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas. Using a bump stock, he was able to fire hundreds of rounds very rapidly, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds.

Following this unprecedented tragedy, there was a bipartisan push for regulation of bump stocks. The ATF issued a proposed rule to reclassify the accessories as machine guns in December of 2017.  Then President Trump threw his support behind the movement, asking the Justice Department to act in banning bump stocks. Finally, on December 18, 2018, the Justice Department issued its final ruling, which banned all further sales and required existing bump stocks be destroyed or surrendered by the date of its implementation, March 26, 2019.

Lawsuit and the Supreme Court

Immediately following the implementation of the final rule, a federal lawsuit was filed against the government by a private citizen, Michael Cargill. After several years in court, the appeal succeeded, but was struck down in other courts, which led the case to the Supreme Court. On June 14, 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the ban on bump stocks, citing a concern that the ATF overstepped its bounds. Justice Clarence Thomas argued that because the trigger finger must be continuously engaged, it does not render the weapon equal to a machine gun in function.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor argued that only maintaining pressure on the trigger still allows multiple shots to be fired without another action, which would support the idea that it functions like a machine gun. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Sagan supported Sotomayor, with Thomas, Robert, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett agreeing that the ban should be overturned. However, with 15 state-level bans still in place, the future status of bump stocks is anything but clear.