So far no court has granted a nationwide injunction on the new bump stock ban. Time is running out. (Photo: Slidefire)
The federal bump stock ban will go into effect tonight at midnight, and gun rights groups are running out of avenues to get enforcement suspended until the courts have a chance to review the case in detail.
At least four lawsuits were filed after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) decided to reverse their interpretation of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and classify bump stocks as machineguns. The suits asked that the courts to suspend enforcement of the new rule until the cases have been finalized.
GunsAmerica has learned that in two of those four cases, the courts ruled to grant injunctions to the plaintiffs in the suit but not to the hundreds of thousands of bump stock owners nationwide. In the D.C. Circuit Court and the 10th Circuit Court, the judges ruled to give the named plaintiffs a stay but denied the request for a nationwide injunction.
GunsAmerica spoke with one of the lawyers on the D.C. Circuit case, Stephen Stamboulieh, who explained that there’s still a chance the 6th Circuit Court will grant the nationwide injunction requested by Gun Owners of America, but time is running out.
“We’re hoping for a systemwide injunction, but there’s no guarantee we’re going to get that,” he said. “Bump stock owners have invested property rights in their stuff. Tonight at 11:59pm, are people going to get their doors kicked down? I hope not.”
Without an injunction, bump stock owners will have to decide whether they want to risk a federal felony conviction and keep their device or risk destroying their property needlessly if a court rules that ATF rule is unconstitutional.
SEE ALSO: NRA Releases Statement on Bump Stock Ban, Confiscation
Stamboulieh pointed out that the courts have treated this case differently from the get-go.
“If only we treated bump stocks like we treat all other types of cases about abortion and immigration,” he said. “[The courts will] jump over themselves to grant a nationwide stay. But it’s not like that. I don’t have good news.”
The court’s ruling came as a surprise to Stamboulieh, who thought the hearing on Friday was a slam-dunk for the pro-gun side.
“It went great for us. The DOJ had absolutely no clue what they’re doing,” he said. “The DOJ couldn’t answer questions by the judge. I don’t know how to explain how bad they did. There are no words for it. It went terrible for them.”
SEE ALSO: Only 2 Bump Stocks Turned Over To Vermont State Police Ahead of Deadline
But the court still denied Stamboulieh’s team a nationwide injunction. If they don’t get good news from the 6th Circuit, they can still ask the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay. But the new rule goes into effect in less than 12 hours, which likely doesn’t give them enough time.
“We’re trying to go through the process,” Stamboulieh said. “But the government didn’t give us a lot of time, and they did it during a shutdown.”
If one of the circuit courts grants an injunction, they have the power to apply the stay nationwide. If they don’t, bump stock owners will be required to destroy their property per ATF guidelines.
Check back here for the latest throughout the day.
UPDATE (7:04 p.m. EST): The 6th Circuit has refused to grant the injunction. Looks like the ban will take effect tonight…
UPDATE (3/26 9:35 a.m. EST): The D.C. Circuit Court clarified that all bona fide members of gun rights groups involved in the suit are also covered by the injunction. Those include the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Madison Society Foundation, Inc., and Florida Carry, Inc.
UPDATE (3/27/19 10:26 p.m. EST): The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to get involved in the case, according to the Associated Press. Chief Justice John Roberts declined the initial request, and a second request is pending in front of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. (We’re not holding our breath.)
With the Corruption in our senior FBi agents and the justice department and the fact those criminals have not been held accountable yet they are now making thousands of people felons with out due process and no compensation is an example how off track things are!
The founders of our great country tried most everything to get along with England but finally had to say enough is enough. The British started confiscating arms and the American resistance started. We stand at a crossroads today like our country’s founders. We have choices to make, cower and submit or resist. Chose wisely because our children and grandchildren will live in freedom or submission. It is our choice.
It’s possible to operate a firearm in a rapid fire mode in many ways by simply modifying HOW the trigger is pulled. Does this mean that our federal overseers are going to ban rubber bands?
Taking a deeper look at this I am terrified. I do not own any bump stocks, but do have firearms that can accommodate one. If a bump stock is classified as a machine gun, then any firearm which can readily be retrofitted with one is also a machine gun. This is the back door, the keystone in the arch, this is how they will “take” most of all semiautomatic weapons from the general populus…through reclassification. Hit fastfoward on this situation, and see how a plastic accessory was the catalyst leading to a civil war. It’s scary.
The way ATF took the 1934 law and redefined a definition in it to fit is illegal and unconstitutional. The way they reinterpreted the definition of machine gun to fit bump stocks can also fit all semi-automatics.
If you look at the history of the courts they often vote with public opinion and not the Constitution. The refusal of the Supreme Court to hear the cases which is dominated by Conservatives shows you that gun owners cannot count on them in anti-gun cases or in protecting their 2 A rights. So what else is new. Even the Scalia decision was anything but pro-gun if you read the decision in its entirety which gave the courts to right to ban any weapon they want if they determine its a threat to public safety.
Unbelievable court decision(s) The bigger problem is for the 298 folks that live in Moran TX, where slide fire was made. The town will go bankrupt as this was the sole industry there.
CONSIDERING THAT PEOPLE WHO OWN THESE BUMPSTOCKS AND PURCHASED THEM WHEN THEY WERE CONSIDERED LEGAL DEVICES TO OWN. IF THE GOVERNMENT NOW AFTER THE FACT DECIDES TO MAKE THEM ILLEGAL THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE A FORMAT EVEN IF IT IS A BASIC ONE FOR A REIMBURSEMENT OF A FLAT RATE AMOUNT TO THOSE WHO DECIDE TO TURN THEM IN IN ACCORDANCE TO THE NEW RULING. IT SEEMS TO ME IT’S THE ONLY RIGHT AND FAIR THING TO DO,..
No…ex post facto Law shall be passed.
ARTICLE I, SECTION 9, CLAUSE 3
Of course their is this as well. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Americans have no rights only privileges.
I seem to remember the Constitution mentioning there shall be no laws of Ex Post Facto. What happened.
The government always does what they want and justifies it later.
You are confused. No new law was passed. Constitution says nothing of ex post facto regulations. (how do I convey the sarcasm?)
Just in, the State of California has just banned belt loops as they can replicate a Bump Stock. They’re trying to take it one step further by banning pants that ‘may’ require wearing a belt.
Trump is an authoritarian martial-statist who is a clear and present danger to liberties, freedoms, and rights.
He spends like their is no tomorrow running $1 trillion dollar deficits annually while he funds the military-industrial complex and it’s wars of aggression.
He has let the crimes of HRC and the Obama administration go unpunished.
He cries about being spied upon while his government continues the mass surveillance of Americans here at home.
He mouths platitudes about internet censorship, yet he does nothing on that front except tweet.
Trump is for the CIA overthrow of the Venezuelan government.
He winks at the ongoing genocide in Yemen.
Bush neocon John Bolton is National Security Adviser.
Goldman Sachs alumni Steve Mnuchin is Secretary of Treasury and has thwarted any audit of the Fed.
This is swamp draining?
Face it. Trump is just another puppet controlled by the Bankstrrs who hold his debt and who bailed him out when he was near bankruptcy.
Trump is owned lock, stock, and barrel (and bump stock).
Trump is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
If Obama did what Trump did on bump stocks, every person on this thread would be calling for his impeachment, if not his hanging.
It should be no different now just because the puppet dictator is now Trump and not Obama.
Robert,
You have not been paying attention.
Wake up.
This is the slippery slope we don’t want. Expect binary triggers and pistol braces to be next. Another false flag operation will commence at some point. After the next “mass shooting” where binary trigger(s) and pistol brace(s) are supposedly used by the alleged shooter(s) the same will happen with those. It will happen folks. They’ve figured out this is their formula now to follow.
I don’t think they will ever be able to outright ban your standard semi automatic trigger but they can sure put additional stipulations on them. ie 10+lb trigger pull etc……….. making it very difficult to work with one very efficiently. There are already such things as a NY Glock trigger spring utilized by the NYC police dept etc…….. so this is a feasible thing they could accomplish at some point.
You all just wait. This sets up the slippery slope that they need to start going after anything and everything else they can think of getting away with. They know enacting an outright repeal like what just recently happened in NZ would be engaging in a civil war here at home but they sure will keep chipping away at what we already have to make it as difficult as humanly possible for the average guy who will just throw his/her hands up in the air and say f it. In effect its the best of both worlds for them. Frustrating gun owners to just give up effectively creating a psudeo ban with out doing much. Typical politician tactics if you ask me. Congress is a joke but that is another conversation entirely.
YMMV
Florida already banned binary triggers, among other things, with their knee jerk reaction after Parkland.
All thanks to the feckless NRA and the the duplicitous Donald Judas Trump.
We are all just waiting for the next person to go on a wild shooting spree and then the “law abiding” gun owners will carry the weight of responsibility for that individuals actions right? That is how it works. Same thing happens with cars. People miss use them and then they get banned. Look at alcohol. People miss use it and alcohol is banned. If anyone would be stabbed with a knife then we would ban knifes right? Thank god at least going to a doctor or for medical treatment is safe. I really can not recall anyone ever dying after receiving bad, wrong or negligent professionally licensed medical treatment or procedures.
Honestly though and seriously I do get it. All people should hold those who are directly or indirectly responsible in some way for things that are wrong. I am sort of understanding the idea of collateral damage better. I vaguely remember what I thought was a funny saying “kill them all and let god figure it out”! Now we have ban them all and let the courts figure it out but the system is a lock. I really have no interest in bump stocks but to me the issue is the twisting and manipulation of minds. The bizarre belief that inanimate objects are responsible in some way for human behavior. If that holds true in any form could a murderer claim that whatever means he used to kill someone was not totally of his own doing or responsibility? That merely the fact that an object existed should bear some level of responsibility for the murderers actions? It is just as crazy as what is going on right now, the psychotic discussions and public displays in the media and in the courts. At some point the “law abiding gun owners” will need to add on “blind, nutty, wacko” to the front of it to describe themselves because this shet B nuts.
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
–Winston Churchill
Blithely shrugging and allowing this new law to take effect, is simply encouraging your opposition to enact additional new laws. ALL laws that control, restrict, or eliminate guns or gun accessories are infringements.
Until we all find a way to achieve this mindset, we’ll continue to find ourselves on the receiving end of more and more firearm laws. Never allow your opposition even one inch; it just make them hungrier to take more.
Trump is a massive FRAUD. Any gun owner or Gun Rights advocate who does not see this carnival barker for what he is — a con artist — is in denial.
I never owned a bump stock or never wanted or want one but it won’t stop the ignorant people from taking away our second amendment rights one piece at a time until we are only left with sticks and stones to defend ourselves with. It leaves me to ponder how many people have really read our founding fathers real Constitution for this country and the real purpose of the second amendment
A bump stock is not a gun, it is an accessory to a gun. Allowing this to be banned sets up a likely scenario where any accessory can now be determined by some sick minded individuals in our government to deduce that whatever we may decide to utilize with our guns, may be dangerous to the general public and therefore, must be banned. Just imagine what they could come up with next? Having a scope on a gun may become illegal because you could shoot someone from very far away. Too many bullets in a clip, a certain obvious choice.
At the moment, we are already limited in our purchase choices but since the anti-gunners have hit a bit of a wall in taking all of our guns away, now they are trying to take them, piece by piece, rule by rule. Our rights go beyond the 2nd amendment and our freedom of choice and ownership is what is really being attacked.
I have no need and no desire for a bump-stock but I sure don’t want the government deciding what I can, or can not, purchase or own. The government needs to be returned to the people and that’s, US.
I once watched Jerry Miculek shoot a semi auto AK47 against anothers fully automatic AK. With a 30 round magazine, he was a few thousands of a second slower. All shots hit the target. Perhaps his trigger finger should be banned.
That said, I have always believed bump stocks were a bad idea, a waste of ammo, potential loss of control.
The problem is, once someone starts the ball rolling, restrictions will fall on other firearms. We need to stand with the NRA as they are our only hope. If you disagree with policies,let them know and vote for candidates you can trust. We can not win this battle as individuals. The NRA is our strongest firearms supporter. Get involved and protect our 2nd Amendment rights.
lost is the purpose ,spray bullets,as in nevada,.to use the second amendment to defend them is foolish. I love when proposed gun restrictions are asked would they prevent mass shootings the answer is no,but.
It seems to be a communist take over to make the appointed law makers out of the hands of we the people! According to our real Constitution we the people should have the right to vote on any law to be put into law. Not the few nay sayers. Our country has been and is divided ever since they allowed each State to have its own separate constitution. One idiot in Las Vegas and only one caused this problem with bump stocks. More people are killed every day in our country by auto mobile accidents than in a month by guns, So knowing that are the morons going to ban automobiles???next. We need only one Constitution which is our original and one for all
Blame the manufactures of this crap. always pushing the envelope. If you listen to the audio on the Vegas shooting sounds like a damn machine gun.. No reason for this crap to be on the market along with build your own untraceable gun kits. The NRA is a strong organization of which I’m a member I am disappointed that they didn’t jump in and say that bump stocks were a bad idea when they first came out… Gun owners like myself and manufactures can be their own worst enemy….. Gun buyers and manufactures grow the hell up..
That’s like blaming Chevrolet or Budweiser because a drunk driver killed somebody. It’s completely asinine. You grow the hell up.
His volume of fire increased the number of wounded but didn’t increase the number of fatalities. There have been several incidents where the death toll is close to Vegas, where only a standard semi auto was used.
Truth is Vegas could have been done with any standard semi auto. That crowd was a fish in a barrel. Ten minutes of continuous shooting with any AR would have resulted in a similar outcome for those people.
Guy had a dozen plus rifles and plenty of ammo. It was the duration of unopposed shooting, and a perfect target that resulted in the outcome we had.
They investigated for over 2 years and couldn’t even come up with a motive. Never mentioned how many of those ARs had bump stocks, or how many were even used of the many that were shown. Also with the many shots supposed to have fired, very few empty cartridge cases were on the floor.
So THEY were investigating WAY before the incident occurred on October 1, 2017. You’d think THEY might have stopped it. Guess that’s another conspiracy, huh?
My take is that Obama’s ATF gave bump stocks a pass, knowing full well that sooner or later some wacko would go nuts, giving THEM the excuse they need to start confiscation.
Classified as a machine gun, well, I got to ask, what does this thing fire for projectiles, I see no barrel, magazine or tube feed, so, just how is this a machine gun, it isn’t even a gun!
I think the whole thing is political, after all anyone that has any hands on with a bump stock knows the the trigger only let one round at a time fire, it sets and breaks and reset’s with each pull of the trigger. I have seen people that can bump fire just using their hands so what is next ban those people?
Plain and simple. I will keep mine, use it and enjoy it. If they want it they can attempt to take it. They will then receive the wrong end of 24 years of military combat experience. The risk is there own.
“They will then receive the wrong end of 24 years of military combat experience.” – Jeeze…get over yourself. Having been “down range” a time or two myself I find your statement suspect to say the least (not to mention the fact that I know of no conflict involving US Troops lasting that length of time in the history of our nation). Foolish internet tough guy comments like this do no one on the Pro-Gun side any good, so shut up and grow up. Everybody wants to be a tough guy…till they meet one.
So I guess he should just bend over like yourself and give up a legally owned piece of property?? A plactice piece of property that the government has now deemed a machine gun and without due compensation…jeez the amount of pro-gun retards like yourself is why Trump and the NRA thought they would get away with this.
“So I guess he should just bend over like yourself and give up a legally owned piece of property??” “pro-gun retards like yourself”
Dear Biggest John,
I never said anything of the sort, I merely suggested his magnified bravado from behind his keyboard be suspended before he is called on his bluff and BS. Had he not made the outlandish claim of “24 years of combat experience” I would not have commented at all. That said I truely wish I could hear you call me retarded and accuse me of bending over in person just to see if your tone, vocabulary and bluster were any different in the flesh. Somehow I get the feeling it would be.
Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.
The NRA expected a bill of law would be introduced that “grandfathered” existing bump stocks and at worst maybe made new ones a Class III item. Instead Donald Trump signed off on declaring them to be home-made machine guns which are already illegal. This sets a terrible precedent for a future liberal POTUS in the pocket of gun-haters. He/she might simply thumb his/her nose at Congress and declare detachable magazines to be destructive devices already banned under federal law making everybody who owns one a felon.
Ask Trump his thoughts
Good
Before you guys get too critical of the NRA, just remember it’s the NRA that the left most vocally complains about, so they’re doing of a lot of good for us.
Secondly, it should be remembered that the NRA is about defending the rights of firearms owners. Bump stocks are not firearms.
Third, to take up the fight defending bump stocks (again, they’re NOT firearms) is a losing battle. The NRA has a number of fights on their hands. Best not to waste resources trying to keep something legal that isn’t even a firearm.
Very good statement !
Bump stocks are a waste of good ammunition in my humble opinion which is worth diddly squat in the eyes of all the bloggers spouting second amendment rights that the government has already shit upon time and time again.
Fellow Patriots don’t forget how the NRA slickers done us on this. When Trump totally trusts someone like Military or NRA he tends to blindly follow they’re ideas. The NRA was first I heard to cave.
Trump said take them first then let the justice system work it out. He wanted this. Stop being a dumass
There may be room for compromise here. Our side concedes bump stocks are, in effect, machine guns (requiring a more stringent re-write of the rule) and owners must get a tax stamp to avoid being a felon, their side allows the court to rule that the Hughes Amendment to FOPA (banning new machine guns for civilians) is unconstitutional. (Yeah, we’d all like the NFA ruled unconstitutional but don’t waste a reply on that pipe dream; the Heller opinion already protected it.) If it weren’t for the Hughes Amendment, bump stocks would never have been invented because you would be able to purchase a real automatic firearm for under a grand.
It was the NRA that introduced the law to the president everyone needs to wake up the NRA is not your friend you can thank them for the 68 Firearms I.e 4473 the 1986 machine gun van and now the bump stock ban all brainchild of the NRA wake up they’re not your friend
Whenever the NRA “supports” an action that infringes on gun owners’ rights, they do so to mitigate the momentum of something much worse. The Las Vegas lunatic did even more than the typical mass shooter to stir up “Nobody is safe!” frenzy that gun-haters love. That guy was tactically clever even though he was totally nuts. Anti-gun forces were going to capitalize on that paranoia while it lasted. They fully intended to get ALL guns that can hold a lot of bullets banned. Since the NRA realized only a small percentage of its membership owned or had any interest in bump stocks, they went along with banning them but they didn’t instigate it.
Exactly.
N egotiate
R ights
A way
You people crying “Where’s the NRA?” and “clear violation of the 2nd amendment” don’t know what you’re talking about.
Here’s a primer for you: bump stocks are designed specifically to MIMIC the action of a fully automatic firearm.
ANY alteration to a firearm that makes it fully automatic, OR ACT AS IF IT’S FULLY AUTOMATIC, is ILLEGAL, and has been since before WW2.
Bump stocks were NEVER legal, they simply took advantage of a loophole that was finally closed.
Ken Cook are you a gun owner? If so do you realize if they get away with this any semi automatic rifle or hand gun could be next? Got nothing to do with automatic, it’s everything to do with SHALL NOT INFRINGE!’
A automatic weapon is defined as one that fires multiple shots with each pull of the trigger . A bump stock requires the trigger be pulled for every shot. You are ignorant.
Excellent rebuttal!
What are you talking about??? Please cite the laws or references?
#1. The first maching gun regulation…National Firearms Act was in 1934 and imposed taxation of machineguns. Civiliams cpuld still own them.
#2. The Gun Control Act was implemented in 1968 which banned the importation of machineguns, but still made the ownership of domestically made new ones possible.
#3. The Volkmer Act (FOPA) wasnt until 1986, which finally banned the creation of new machineguns for civilian ownership. The vote was called for recall, but moved ahead without it which was a dubious act, but Reagan sign it anyway.
So what you need to understand is there is nothing in USC 18 / 922 that says ” mimic “. A machinegun is defined as a gun or part that allows a firearm to fire more than one bullet for one action of the trigger.
A bumpstock and various other devices require the trigger to be pressed each time a bullet is fired, keeping the device semi autoamtic.
Though I may agree a bump stock is unnecessary and shpuld be regulated – the law being applied is being torted and misapplied to do so amd is in fact illegal. All congress has to do is add bump stocks or the term mimic (with a solid and logical definition) to 922o to make it legal…but they havent.
This is a misuse of executive power at its best and totally illegal.
Next time please understand the facts before spouting out how anything made after WWII that mimics a machinegun is already illegal…because NONE of that is true.
I think your #3 actually refers to the “Hughes Amendment” to FOPA.
Loophole? No such thing.
So because its similar to a full auto it is a full auto.
How about good triggers, with practice you can run those pretty fast?
How about the belt loop and rubber band trick?
Once you concede this, with no change in the written law, where can you draw the line in the sand?
Here’s a primer for you, Cook, it has little to do with the gun part aka bump stock and the snowball will start rolling for all those other parts that do anything to effect firing a gun! Magazine capacity, trigger pats and binary triggers, etc…. the list is almost endless!
If you can read, the way this law is worded they had to redefine what is a machine gun, almost anything they want if it goes through!
Everyone seems to think that this is going to snowball into banning hi-cap magazines, scopes, and other parts.. but I disagree. Every bill is passed and voted on separately… just because one bill passes does NOT necessarily make it easier for other bills to pass.. history has proven this time and time again.
Now, I’m sure that part of me may be saying this because I could really care less about bump stocks… they are hard to handle, waste ammo, and have piss-poor accuracy even on the best AR’s. I would take a fully automatic over them any day of the week.
I’m not going to fight for a bumpstock.. But I will fight for my hi-cap magazines, etc. because those are things that we use and actually do care about. If they do someday ban hi-cap magazines (again), I doubt it would have anything to do with this bill.
It really doesn’t even mimic a automatic. The rate of fire isn’t even close. There are shooters (pros) that can fire a semi auto WITHOUT a bump stock as fast or maybe even faster than with one. Proving the human capability is there.
F…the NRA Donate to the 2A Foundation or Gun Owners of America!!
Same for trump
NRA where u at mann
Yup. NRA doesn’t wanna stand up against this clear violation of the 2nd Amendment because it’s not a political winner for them. Funny thing is nobody even knew wtf a bumpstock was until they made a big huff over em. Now tens an thousands of people went and bought one or more. Semi automatics are next just so you know guys.
I imagine you are right. Bans on hi-cap magazines too. Eventually. one of those sons or daughters of tyranny are going to realize that you don’t need a “bump-fire stock” to bump-fire a semi-auto rifle! Then it’ll be Katie bar the door!
They\’ve been trying to ban semi-auto weapons for over 30 years… nothing about that agenda is new
Hello,NRA? Yeah, a half a million citizens might become felons tomorrow, your thoughts?
Only “half a million”? You think so many will line up to turn in or destroy their stocks?
No, we just have a lot more felons hoping that the law changes or that they don’t get caught.
The bump stock was designed after learning all guns can be quickly fired by allowing the recoil action to occur. A retired US Marshal showed me how to do the same with a pistol. He gets yelled at every time we go to the range. I’ve never needed a bump stock to fire almost as fast as a full auto. This is law being authorized by the factually deficient. Unfortunately the Federal Judges are being duped for the same reason.