Bump Stock Ban
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)
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From Gun Owners of America . . .

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a district court decision which had denied Gun Owners of America’s motion for a preliminary injunction preventing the ATF from implementing a final rule classifying bump stocks as machine guns under federal law.

This case was brought by GOA, Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Matt Watkins, Tim Harmsen of the Military Arms Channel, and GOA’s Texas Director, Rachel Malone.

“Today’s court decision is great news and told gun owners what they already knew,” said GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. “We are glad the court applied the statute accurately, and struck down the ATF’s illegal overreach and infringement of gun owners’ rights.”

“Chevron deference does not apply to agency interpretation of criminal statute thus court does not need to decide whether agency can waive chevron deference therefore court must determine BEST MEANING of the statute the “statutory context” of “single function of the trigger” “weighs heavily in Plaintiff-Appellants’ favor” adopt our position that it “refers to the mechanical process”

Pratt added that the court understood our argument when they included in the opinion that: “A bump stock may change how the pull of the trigger is accomplished, but it does not change the fact that the semiautomatic firearm shoots only one shot for each pull of the trigger.”

“With or without a bump stock, a semiautomatic firearm is capable of firing only a single shot for each pull of the trigger and is unable to fire again until the trigger is released and the hammer of the firearm is reset.”

You can view the entire ruling here.

Luis Valdes is the Florida Director for Gun Owners of America

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63 COMMENTS

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  1. Yay for some goodish news. So bump stocks maybe are not illegal but open carry (or even any carry at all) may not be a right, just another week of conflicting second amendment decisions. Perhaps people in Hawaii will be able to openly carry bump stocks, as long as they don’t have a gun attached.

    Meanwhile, even if it gets totally overturned, Florida Republicans and other states that double banned them (including the country of England) will still continue to do so, because they be scary.

  2. Positive news. For the moment. The ultimate decision will rest with SCOTUS, IF Roberts allows it. The treason lives loudly in him. Yes, I know he signed Heller and he has “paid the price” for that decision. The communists consider him a doo doo head. So he is doing everything that he can to worm his way back into their good graces.

    • “The ultimate decision will rest with SCOTUS, IF Roberts allows it.”

      If SCOTUS does not take up the case then won’t that mean that the lower ruling in our favor will stand though? In order to betray us they actually have to have the courage to take up this case first right? With the current balance of the court, and with their hesitancy to take up these types of cases, we might have a slight advantage right now.

      • If SCOTUS refuses the case then it will create specific areas that allow it and forbid it. I am hoping that the 5 conserves pressure Roberts. I have no real hope though.

    • The court did not apply the Chevron defense since the question addressed interpretation of a criminal statute and not an agency regulation, which is undoubtedly correct. I have no doubt SCOTUS would agree, so it will not need to address the efficacy of the Chevron defense. Even if it did, the doctrine, which is found in state law cases as well, is simply a rule of interpretation of regulations, holding that the Agency’s interpretation of its own regulations is entitled to great deference. The rule does not apply to any statute.

      • It looked like the ATF attempted to use the Chevron defense, and that was part of what was shot down when this was overturned.

  3. So I can haz one of these now? Available for purchase, just for grins & giggles when shooting with the buddies in the desert?

    Or do we have to wait for the ATF to formally acquiesce first? Who has the greater muscle flex between the two?

    • Disconnect with my Gravatar, eh? What happened above, lol? Every once in a while the Gravatar doesn’t appear…weird.

        • Yeah unfortunately we get a lot of those who promise but they always come back.

          Regardless you can thank Donald Trump for this stupidity and years of costly litigation. I have yet to hear what we got in return for giving up another piece of a right that “Shall not be infringed”.

        • You must not have read my comments in another recent article. I said I missed some of the guys/gals here a lot, and decided to switch to PC instead of phone to access the site so I can see them again, since the new format sucks on a phone.

          You’re not one of those I missed, but I’m impressed you read and remembered my “farewell” post several weeks ago.

        • Don’t be impressed, didn’t even know you left until some posters mentioned how, and I’m paraphrasing; It was nicer here without your inane comments.

          And seeing how you are so in love with that ridiculous “gravatar” I understand their sentiments.

        • Nah….. welcome back, Haz. It’s nice to have some company to watch the train wreck that this site has turned into with. I wish I could post from my computer also, but the damn thing is kinda’ hard to fit into my front pants pocket !!

        • Thx, Pb.

          It’s been a few weeks, so I’ve got some catching up to do. As I said, I realized after a while that I missed the commentary and comaraderie from several TTAG’ers. I came back for them, not the new format.

        • “I missed the commentary and comaraderie”

          THIS is where you come for “comaraderie” in your life? (Is that a mis-spell or a weird play on words?)

          Holy Heck no wonder you tucked tail and groveled back after calling,,,” ‘EnD OF WaTCh’ after a blithering rant” (By one account).

          Well W.B., I guess, although you likely will want to change that awful avatar (worse one here, by far) and maybe write in a less feminine manner. (Unless you are a chick, in which case, carry on)

  4. The ATF declaring a bump stock is a machine gun is like the Department of Transportation saying a motorcycle is a truck because political pressure demanded it. Good the ATF was put in their place.

    • Nope. The 6th Federal Circuit Court is for the Midwest, centered in Ohio, and is an equal to the 9th Federal Circuit Court holding jurisdiction on the West Coast.
      Should the Occupying Forces choose to appeal, which they surely must or lose all street cred with the Left and President Xi Harris, the next step is SCOTUS.
      Well, not exactly. The NEXT step will be for the NRA to claim credit while asking for more money for suits. Tailored suits, not lawsuits.

    • shipped off to the 9th, where it’ll be overturned. Correct??

      No, the only place it can go now is SCOTUS and if they decline it goes back to the 6th and the ruling stands… Federal appellate courts are all equal and serve different parts (circuits/districts) of the country…

  5. I wonder what would be more painful for Slidefire and their former employees: having shut it all down and let everyone go for what would amount to no reason whatsoever or upholding their illegality and remaining shut down for almighty god government.

    Either way it sucks to know the course of your life is dictated by retarded bureaucrats. See, SJW’s? This is what it looks like when somebody with “privilege” really does determine your fate.

    • They were already illegal in California by state statute, which is not effected by this decision.

      • Correct, unfortunately. All “multiburst trigger activators” such as bump stocks, binary triggers, etc. are illegal in CA under P.C. 32900.

        But belt loops, however….

    • When it was time to destroy them I’d imagine that some people couldn’t find them and assumed that they had just got lost somehow.

      Now I’d imagine that may go look for them real hard and maybe find them.

      Just guessing though, don’t know much about them.

      • may go look for them real hard and maybe find them

        Sounds like something I’d do, if I had a bump stock…

  6. While many in the 2A community thought the bump stock ban was not a hill worth dying for, I did. This case involves the very idea of what a law is. If something can be legal one day and illegal the next, how can we depend on any law? Certainly a direct literal meaning no longer applies. Is a law just a matter of the governments opinion on nay given day to be changed at the governments whim? When I file my taxes, can I depend on the IRS opinion of the law on that day I file to hold up if I am audited? Okay, bad example. What does it even mean anymore to be “law abiding”?

    • If anyone else thinks like I do, and has been around long enough now to see where things have been headed, the leftists (and to be fair, at times, the republicans) have made “law abiding” a joke. I honestly have lost most of my interest in holding that title. No one anymore is law abiding, because there are too many laws, and no way we can know every single one. What was legal today is illegal tomorrow. Morally right needs to replace law abiding. We lose freedoms daily, it is not a give and take, and just taking is unsustainable.

    • “What does it even mean anymore to be “law abiding”?”

      It means being on the left side of the political aisle.

    • Correct, it was never about the bump stock. It was about eliminating the legislative branch all together. And any president becoming a king. Simply deciding what was legal and what was not, from one day to the next.

  7. And still “We the People” swing in the wind and wait with baited breath for a Court of OUR Betters to determine Our Freedoms and Liberties. Perhaps its time to send the Court the same direction the Founding Patriots sent the Court of King George III. Complacent Cowardice for continued Life albeit under the Boot of Tyranny or Courageous Sacrifice for something Greater than oneself. Which Nation do you wish for your descendant?
    This may be but a movie scene and yet it speaks to the very thing “We the People” face today. Will you be Willing or Will You Live with the Regret?
    https://youtu.be/gr_OpFxCx-A

      • Roberts is waiting to stab us in the back.

        Even if Roberts caves, the Court is STILL 5/4 to the right. The best bet would be for the SCOTUS to deny it and kick it back, game over, ATF loses another one AND that NON EXISTANT Trump EO is voided? Even though there never was an Executive Order written by Trump banning bump stocks….

        • Even though there never was an Executive Order written by Trump banning bump stocks….

          But there indeed was a signed order by Trump adding VEPRs to the import banned list.

          Also ZERO signed orders by Trump undoing any of the previous gun-grabbing EO’s.

          So yeah Trump didn’t do jack-sheet for gun owners besides not being as bad as Hillary. Since I’m an adult (and can comprehend the difference beteen BAD and WORSE) I voted for him twice.

  8. Good News – Take a Minute to savor the taste of victory.

    If BATFE is smart (Big If) they will let this ruling stand and find another way to screw us. Trump is gone, so the political driver to ban these plastic accessories is gone too.

    Biden can have one of his House Boys or Girls write and pass a law to do the same. It will pass the house and die in the senate.

    The Harris/Biden administration has other ways they are looking at to screw gun owners and the gun industry. They can easily slide this in and ban importation of “Bump Stocks” not that there were any foreign made version, but it would sound good, etc.

  9. I had wondered why everyone was making a big deal out of Tim from Military Arms Channel not honoring contracts for SVD rifles he never made recently, it was punishment for fighting for bump stocks.

    • People were making a big deal over it because (1) Tim was ducking over the people who had already lobbied and done the paperwork, wheeling and dealing to bring a pipe dream to fruition by walking in with fat stacks of cash and buying it out from under them, (2) because Tim was then set to put all of said guns on gunbroker for whatever the maximum price he could get would be, (3) because Tim has railed against price gougers like cheaperthandirt on numerous occasions and (4) because he then lied, backpedaled, deleted unfavorable posts and otherwise obfuscated and danced around the truth. Unfortunately for him the internet is forever and just because you delete posts doesn’t mean they’re truly gone, especially when you just screwed over almost a hundred people.

      Tim made a shrewd business move that involved screwing over the little guys, and doing so when he railed against the exact same type of thing when cheaper than dirt did it makes him a hypocrite of the highest order.

      It’s almost as bad as when you find out a TV preacher has been banging a dude and looting the offering plate – affairs and embezzlement is bad enough, but when his whole message revolves around condemning what he’s guilty of, it makes disgust well up from the deepest portions of your soul.

      Military Arms Channel was one of the first channels that I subscribed to, and I’m unsubscribed with no intent of looking back. Greed is an ugly thing.

      • Finally people are seeing the light. I’ve called this shill on the carpet more times than I can count. All he uses the youtube channel for is to tar firearms he doesn’t like and direct competitors to copper customs/definitive arms, both of which he has personal ownership in.

        He is a snake oil salesman of the highest order and proper scumbag as illustrated above. I hope every avoids business with his greed driven ass.

      • I read the apology by PRDUBI on the AKForum where he admitted the list was never a buyers list. We’ve also learned there was no swooping in at the last minute, Copper was always the buyer and they wouldn’t be here if Trident and Copper didn’t work for years to get them here. There’s an email floating around showing that PRDUBI lied about pricing and created an interest list after Trident and Copper already had a signed purchase order. He also never shared this list with either of them. I saw the email on the Files or Coppers FB page. He lied about pricing and he lied about other things, which he apologized for. The gun community is epic at one thing, eating its own.

  10. What a joke.
    We’re going to let you have a device that permits you to expend ammunition at a faster rate. To bad for you theres no ammunition.

  11. When and if these things are released from the purgatory of the Trump Gun Ban, I’m buying one. Likely won’t do more than try it out once, maybe once a year for some plinking fun. But no way I’d leave this “Instability Device” on my gun.

    • Nope. It only plays occasionally. I used to take it out on the 4th and when bringing friends to the range. Too wasteful otherwise.

  12. “Notwithstanding the ATF’s frequent reversals on major policy issues, we understand that the Court would consider the bureaucrats at the ATF as experts in firearms technology. But that technical knowledge is inapposite to the question of what should be criminally punished and what should not.”

    This is a great line. Page 18 of the Document. Fairly slapped ATF in the face.

  13. “The training for such policy determinations does not come from a graduate school
    education or decades of bureaucratic experience. Rather, one develops the expertise necessary to make moral judgments from sources of a more humble and local origin: one’s family and upbringing. This learning is further informed by relationships with friends and neighbors, the practice of one’s faith, and participation in civic life. That this education is accessible to everyone and anyone further enhances, not diminishes, the legitimacy of these community-based judgments. That is why, from the founding, the Supreme Court has held that there can be no federal common-law crimes and that only the people’s representatives in Congress may enact federal criminal laws.”

    This is a great read. Page 19 of the Document. This passage alone will raise the hackles of the highbrow socialist snakes, and cause them to froth at the mouth like rabid dogs and fight this to the death. Keep your powder dry, folks.

  14. The bumpstock is a cheap alternative. Just like the Sten Gun was. And just as “reliable”. But you go to war with what you have. Not what you wish you had. And you train with it. And make it work for you.

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