Posted on 03/26/2021 6:16:36 AM PDT by Magnum44
On March 25, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled against the ATF’s December 26, 2018, rule declaring bump stocks to be machine guns and prohibiting ownership of said stocks.
NPR reported the prohibition against ownership went into effect on March 26, 2019.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I am not one to jump on the ‘4-d chess’ band wagon, but I think Trump knew his executive order would push this to a court ruling.
So, does this mean that bump stocks are again legal? Anyone still have them in the garbage can to retrieve?
The Biden Admin will appeal this.
It is not the final word.
Who knows. A court ruling won’t stop the ATF from breaking into your home and murdering you if you own one w/o the necessary ‘mother may I’ papers.
“The government shall infringe the right to keep and bear arms in a variety of ways, as shall be determined from time to time by legislation, executive orders, court orders and other such means as shall be deemed convenient at any given time, although this may or may not be subject to review and change at a later date, so who really knows?”
That right there is a direct quote from the Penumbra.
Interesting question. When various Ciruit Courts made immigration rulings, the ruling applied accross all circuits. The scope of effect of most decisions is limited to that Circuit, the Circuits can come to opposite conclusions. That's called a "split" and is a factor that SCOTUS includes when considering whether or not to take a case.
Then there is the fact that the government can and does circumvent court rulings, if it wants to. In other words, you can be punished by process even if you are totally innocent. This is more common than people realize.
Or just do it anyhow. Democrats never let adhering to laws stand in their way when it comes to achieving their ends.
If anything, as a government agency, they should be promoting the manufacturing, sale, and use of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
The problems is that this is a ruling on the technical deficiency of the rule - the ATF is essentially assuming more power than the controlling statute has ceded to it - rather than a ruling on the constitutional merits of the ATF’s rule.
IOW, when Biden breaks the filibuster to ban most semi-automatics (which is coming WAY sooner rather than later), the bump stocks will be expressly prohibited by statutory law and not dependent on ATF discretion, essentially mooting this case. It will never be heard by the Supreme Court.
I always thought it was interesting that the ATF has its roots in the Bureau of Prohibition, a government enforcement agency that didn’t come into existence until AFTER a constitutional amendment was adopted and the subsequent Volstead Act was passed to ban the manufacture & sale of alcohol.
Why is it that in the early part of the 20th century, the Constitution had to be amended before something not even mentioned in the Constitution could be regulated & banned but now, we regulate and ban just about anything if Congress says so including things that are expressly protected in the USC?
Belt Loops can be used as “bump stocks”.
Raise your hand if you ever bothered to get rid of your bump stock. 🙄
And rubber bands
Obama looked into this issue three times and concluded that the executive branch doesn’t have the power to ban bump stocks.
Trump took one look and decided he did. TeamD types didn’t object because anything gungrabby is good. TeamR types didn’t object because it was Trump, not Obama, doing it.
But Obama was right on that one and Trump was wrong and I’m glad the 6th Circuit saw it that way.
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