#BumpStock

Buckle up, buckaroos. We’ve got some dense legalese to get through today. On March 25, 2021, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, reversed and remanded a lower court decision that denied a preliminary injunction against the ATF’s enforcement of the bump stock ban. I know that many of you are thinking the same thing that I had thought. Wait, what? I thought the whole bump stock ban thing was already over and done? A done deal, set in stone, lost and never to return. But it appears this is not the case, so without any further ado, let’s get into the meat of the matter.

Fairly recently, I was made aware of some rumors circulating on various forums and boards. This rumor suggests Nevada has somehow declared all AR-15s to be machineguns. Sounds a bit too ridiculous to be true, doesn’t it? After much hunting and scouring of the internet (five minutes of effort, thereabouts), I came across a Court Order that seemed to be the source of so much confusion. You can read it for yourself here if you would like, but I’ll cover the salient points. If you just want the quick summary, no, Nevada did not declare all AR-15s machineguns. Not even close.

Show of hands, who has been paying attention to the various lawsuits dealing with the ATF’s reinterpretation of Bump Stocks? Because to be completely honest, I haven’t been paying as much attention as I clearly should have been. In their most recent court filing, the ATF has admitted some truly explosive news. Namely, they concede that they do not have the authority to reinterpret the definition of machine guns in the bump stock ruling under the National Firearms Act (NFA).

Fort Worth based retailer RW Arms announced on Tuesday, April 9th that they would be joining The Modern Sportsman in a lawsuit against the Federal Government. In the filing, both companies allege various wrongdoings on behalf of the government, and request “just compensation.” A lot is going on in the filing, most of it interesting, so let’s break it down.

A new ATF documented posted today outlines the final ruling, officially banning bump stock devices once posted to the federal register. Signed by Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker, the narrative for the final rule change is 157 pages long and includes an analysis of comments submitted both in support and against a rule change, cost analysis, legal analysis and alternatives to using bump stocks. A link to the full document can be found below.

In April the state of Vermont moved to ban bump stocks,  the ban officially began on the 1st October. In the run up to the ban, however, Vermont State Police held a voluntary amnesty for citizens wishing to give up their bump stocks. The scheme has not been the success that police might have hoped for.

Slide Fire Solutions and it’s president Jeremiah Cottle, owner of the only approved patent for bump stocks, announced on Tuesday that it would cease production. A notice on the Slide Fire website reads:

Don’t get me wrong. You have the right to pay whatever you want and vendors have the right to charge whatever the traffic will bear. Capitalism is awesome and there is no such thing as price gouging. But it’s beyond foolish to pay inflated prices in anticipation of a ban. There isn’t any likely scenario that plays out where your “investment” pays off.