Bump-Stocks are Not ‘Machine Guns,’ Argues FPCAF in New Supreme Court Brief

WASHINGTON (January 30, 2024) – Today, FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) announced the filing of a brief with the United States Supreme Court in the case of Garland v. Cargill, which challenges the federal bump stock ban. The brief can be viewed here.

“Any semiautomatic weapon can be bump fired by itself or with a multitude of commonly available materials that can make the process marginally easier,” argues the brief. “Given that the physics of such techniques are intrinsic to virtually any semiautomatic weapon, ATF’s definitions of ‘automatically’ and of ‘single function of the trigger’ would render every semiautomatic weapon a machinegun—an absurd result that cannot be squared with other statutory sections recognizing that semiautomatic weapons are a distinct and less-regulated category of weapons than machineguns.”

“Neither the president nor ATF has the power to rewrite federal law–a point the Supreme Court can and should affirmatively recognize in this case,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPCAF’s Vice President and General Counsel. “A bumpstock is simply not a machinegun. Full stop. Not only can the Supreme Court affirmatively resolve that point here, this case also presents the Court with the opportunity to step in and remind the agency that it is not Congress and it has no power to make law–a point ATF has clearly forgotten.”

FPCAF filed this amicus brief in support of the plaintiff and New Civil Liberties Alliance, which brought this case.

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