scotusblog.com – By Amy Howe – The Supreme Court on Wednesday was divided over the validity of a 2018 federal regulation banning the “bump stock” rifle attachment. The Trump administration regulation barred ownership of bump stocks, which transforms a semiautomatic rifle into a weapon that can discharge at a rate of hundreds of rounds per minute, under an existing general prohibition of machine guns. Although some of the court’s conservative justices expressed concern that the regulation could subject the owners of bump stocks to criminal liability even though the devices were legal when they purchased them, several justices also contended that the lethal capacity of semiautomatic rifles fitted with bump stocks was precisely the kind of weapon that Congress intended to target.
A firearm with a manual action requires the shooter to eject an empty cartridge after firing and load a new one before firing again. A semiautomatic firearm automatically loads a new cartridge after firing, but the shooter must pull the trigger each time he wants to fire a shot. A machine gun, by contrast, will automatically reload new ammunition and continue to fire as long as the shooter keeps his finger on the trigger.
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