Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) exceeded its statutory authority by classifying bump stocks as machine guns. In response, Nick Wilson, senior director for Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
This outrageous ruling is the latest example of how extreme and out of touch the current Supreme Court has become. The ban on bump stocks put into place by President Donald Trump following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history is popular with Americans. Using 14 guns equipped with bump stocks, one man fired more than a thousand rounds in 11 minutes, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 at a 2017 Las Vegas music festival.
Bump stocks increase a weapon’s fire rate at the expense of accuracy, making them useless for sport shooting or self-defense. These rapid-fire devices make it easy to fire indiscriminately into a crowd and have no place on our store shelves. Federal judges who answer to no one should not be overruling expert executive branch agencies such as the ATF on important public safety policies. Today’s ruling will lead to the proliferation of new and powerful rapid-fire devices that will make mass shootings more deadly. Congress should immediately amend the law to expressly ban bump stocks.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected]