The ATF’s ban, enacted in March 2019, was scrutinized in Justice Thomas’ detailed majority opinion, which dissected the trigger mechanics of semiautomatic AR-15-type firearms. Thomas concluded that “a semiautomatic rifle will fire only one shot each time the shooter engages the trigger — with or without a bump stock,” and therefore, cannot be considered a machine gun.
Dissenting Opinion: Safety Concerns
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a scathing dissent, argued that the Supreme Court’s decision effectively puts machine guns “back in civilian hands” by overturning the bump stocks ban.
“When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck,” she stated. Sotomayor contended that a bump-stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”
Sotomayor criticized the majority for focusing too narrowly on the mechanics of bump stocks and neglecting the “human act of the shooter’s initial pull” of the trigger.
Bump Stocks Ban Overturning : Calls for Legislative Action
Justice Samuel Alito, in a concurring opinion, emphasized that it is up to Congress to ban bump stocks. Mark Chenoweth, an attorney for Cargill, praised the court’s decision, asserting that the ATF does not have the power to rewrite criminal laws.
