We’ve opposed the ATF’s bump stock ban since President Trump first floated the idea. Arbitrarily re-defining a plastic stock as a machine gun is a jaw-dropping case of regulatory over-reach and sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent for future regulation of firearms and countless other aspects of everyday life.
Even the Obama administration and Diane Feinstein recognized its constitutionally questionable nature.
So we couldn’t be more supportive of the New Civil Liberties Alliance’s efforts to overturn the ban and applaud the stay they won for the plaintiff in the Tenth Circuit case, Clark Aposhian (as well as their Texas efforts). But their press release today claiming that Mr. Aposhian is “the only man in America legally allowed to keep his bump stock” goes a little too far.
In fact, there’s another suit in play, one that was filed in the DC Circuit by Damien Guedes, the Firearms Policy Foundation and others. It resulted in a stay of the ban for all named appellants in that suit, as well. That includes Mr. Guedes and all Firearms Policy Foundation members.
So we continue to cheer on the NCLA as well as the FPC in their efforts to overturn this regulatory power grab. They’re doing good work on behalf of all gun owners and those who care about the Constitutional separation of powers. But we felt we needed to set the record straight.
Here’s the NCLA’s press release and video:
NCLA Releases Video Telling Story of the Only Man in America Allowed to Keep His Bump Stock
Washington, DC, April 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance released a video outlining the story of NCLA’s client, W. Clark Aposhian, the only man in America legally allowed to keep his bump stock. Mr. Aposhian, of Salt Lake City, Utah, is challenging the bump stock ban issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). NCLA believes ATF acted unlawfully and that only Congress, not administrative agencies, can write criminal laws such as the ATF’s rule banning bump stocks.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a temporary stay of the ban last month which only applies to Mr. Aposhian. The stay prevents the enforcement of the bump stock ban against him while the Court considers his Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal.
Excerpts from the video:
“This case is not about bump stocks. This isn’t a case about whether bump stocks should or shouldn’t be regulated. This case is about who gets to write the law.”
“This case is a perfect example, unfortunately, of what we call the Administrative State. And what I mean by that is, this is a situation where we have an administrative agency, rather than Congress, trying to rewrite the law.” —Caleb Kruckenberg, Litigation Counsel at NCLA “I’m a proud American, and this is not the way things are supposed to be done in the United States. The American people have a deal with the government, that we know the laws and we obey the laws. But the very people that we expect to be examples of obeying the law, are not doing it. And we will hold them accountable.”—W. Clark Aposhian, Client
NCLA also filed a separate lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on behalf of Michael Cargill, a resident of Austin, Texas who turned in his bump stock to the local ATF office while his case is pending before the court.