More than 1.5 million Americans have been killed by gun violence since 1968 than in all U.S. wars combined.
Friday, June 14th, the Supreme Court overturned a ban on bump stocks.
Machine guns have been banned since 1934 because they were often used by criminals during the Prohibition period. The most famous was Al Capone’s Valentine’s Day massacre. Bump stocks were outlawed by Trump in an executive order after the most lethal mass shooting in U.S. history occurred at a music festival in Las Vegas. By adding a bump stock, the gunman was able to turn an ordinary weapon into one that fired more than 1000 rounds into the crowd in eleven minutes, leaving 59 dead and 530 wounded. When the ban went into effect in 2019, over half a million bump stocks were surrendered or destroyed.
But in a 6 to 3 decision the court decided that adding an accessory that turns a semi- automatic weapon into one that shoots hundreds of rounds a minute isn’t an actual machine gun.
90% of Americans support bans on bump stocks. Their only purpose? To change a rifle that shoots one bullet at a time into a forearm of mass destruction. It could never be used to hunt, it would rip the prey into shreds. Or protect a home without devastating property losses. It’s only use? To destroy as many human lives as fast as possible.
The twisted, convoluted logic that Justice Thomas cited to overturn the ban was as crazy as Alito referencing an 1800 judge who burned women as witches and believed they belonged to their husbands.
It stems from the law’s definition, based on 1930’s era weapons, that a machine gun fires multiple rounds “with a single function of the trigger.” That word is the issue.-function is not the same as a pull of the trigger.
With a bump stock addition you pull the trigger once and then recoil bumps the trigger against the shooters finger causing the rifle to fire again and again without added effort. In this way the “ bump stock” moves the trigger for you, firing at machine gun speeds but with only one pull of the trigger. Thomas found the justice department was wrong to declare bump stocks transform semi-automatic rifles into illegal machine guns because each finger depression in rapid succession still only releases one shot.
“The trigger must be released and reengaged to fire each additional shot.”
It’s just the bump stock performing this action not your finger.
Clearly the 1934 Congressional act banning machine guns didn’t have the foresight to envision how progress could circumvent that definition.
Since this wasn’t a second amendment ruling it probably won’t overturn the more than 16 states and District of Columbia that still ban bump stocks. To make it a nationwide ban Congress would have to add the exact term, “bump stocks” to the definition of machine guns. Even though Alito made clear,
“There can be little doubt that the Congress that enacted this law would not have seen any material difference between a machine gun and a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock. But the statutory text is clear and we must follow it.”
Why? As Supreme Justices they are given the great honor to interpret the laws we live under for the health and welfare of the people. He just admitted there was no significant difference between what a bump stock creates and machine guns. But because of a law passed before this addition existed, and the action they cause, the ban is removed on a technicality no one could foresee?
As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion, “If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”
Now, the court is about to put their thumb on the scales again with a soon-to-be-released decision on whether a federal law can keep those under domestic violence restraining orders from accessing a gun.
We can only hope they uphold some protections for those at risk. But with their recent rulings making gun access easier than ever, it might be too much to hope for.
No one is coming for your guns.
Unless you decide to alter its function into a mass murdering machine or have a proven predilection for violence.
But sadly, what was unequivocally agreed to back in 2018, on both sides of the political aisle, was just voted by down most of the Republicans in congress.
So, for now, bump stocks are here to stay.
-https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/e2ef256/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1019×887+0+0/resize/1600×1392!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F6d%2Fba%2F5d4b685a4680b562b77c41c9cad6%2Fbump-stock.jpg
-https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00023655.htm
-https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf
-https://www.npr.org/2024/06/14/nx-s1-5006107/bump-stock-ban-gun-rights-machine-guns
-https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/conservative-supreme-court-majority-strikes-down-ban-on-bump-stocks
-https://oig.justice.gov/reports/ATF/e0706/back.htm
-https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-guns-bump-stocks-b3bd1b4163d78514a6d5acc5b44c8b3d