Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Against Federal Bump Stock Ban
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Last year the Tump administration banned bump stocks -- the devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to use the gun's recoil to bump its trigger and rapidly fire like automatic weapons. Today the Supreme Court turned away an appeal from gun rights groups and left the regulation in place.
The justices declined to review a lower court-ruling that upheld the ban.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a statement saying he agrees the current case should not be heard and that the court was correct not to intervene, but he was concerned with how the lower court handled the issue.
University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck said, "Justice Gorsuch's separate opinion isn't about the merits of the bump stocks rule, but rather whether the lower court applied the correct standard of review in considering those merits."
The largest maker of bump stocks -- Slide Fire Solutions -- stopped taking orders last year. The company based in Moran, Texas, about 130 miles west of Fort Worth, came under scrutiny after it was learned the shooter who opened fire during the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas had guns equipped with the devices.
The 2017 shooting on the Strip killed 58 people and wounded more than 400. The bump stocks allowed the gunman to fire more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes.
