Three firearms related cases coming up, it will be nice to hear how the SCOTUS wind is blowing on firearms related cases. Bump stocks have always been a bit of a joke for me but it will be interesting how they come down on them. ****************************************************************************** "The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up another case touching on guns. The justices agreed to decide whether a New York state official stifled the ability of the National Rifle Association to exercise free speech rights protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by pressuring banks and insurers to avoid doing business with the influential gun rights group." < "The justices next Tuesday are set to consider another gun rights case on whether to uphold a federal law that prohibits people with domestic violence restraining orders from having a firearm." >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> US Supreme Court to decide legality of federal ban on gun 'bump stocks' Nov 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday trained its sights once again on gun rights, agreeing to decide the legality of a federal ban imposed under former President Donald Trump on "bump stock" devices that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire like machine guns. The justices agreed to hear an appeal by President Joe Biden's administration of a lower court's ruling in favor of Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner and gun rights advocate from Austin, Texas, who challenged the ban that was put in place under Trump following a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. The case centers on whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a U.S. Justice Department agency, properly interpreted a law banning machine guns as extending to bump stocks. The new rule, which reversed a prior stance by the agency, took effect in 2019. Federal law prohibits the sale or possession of machine guns, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Machine guns are defined under a 1934 law called the National Firearms Act as weapons that can "automatically" fire more than one shot "by a single function of the trigger." Bump stocks use a semiautomatic's recoil to allow it to slide back and forth while "bumping" the shooter's trigger finger, resulting in rapid fire. The Supreme Court previously had turned away some challenges to the bump stocks prohibition. The Supreme Court's conservative majority has expanded gun rights in three major rulings since 2008, including in 2022 when the justices recognized for the first time that individuals have a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense, and adopted a stringent test for assessing the legality of gun regulations. The justices next Tuesday are set to consider another gun rights case on whether to uphold a federal law that prohibits people with domestic violence restraining orders from having a firearm. After a gunman used weapons outfitted with bump stocks in a 2017 shooting spree at a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more, Trump's administration took action to prohibit the devices. Cargill sued to challenge the rule, which required him to surrender his two bump stocks. Attorney Richard Samp of the New Civil Liberties Alliance conservative legal group, representing Cargill, praised the court's decision to hear the case. "ATF for many years recognized that bump stocks and semi-automatic weapons are not 'machineguns.' Its sudden reversal can only be explained as a decision to allow political expediency to trump the rule of law," Samp said. The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In January, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Cargill in a divided opinion, concluding that the law did not unambiguously favor ATF's reading of the statute. That decision "threatens significant harm to public safety," the Justice Department said in a filing to the Supreme Court. "Bump stocks allow a shooter to fire hundreds of bullets a minute by a single pull of the trigger. Like other machine guns, rifles modified with bump stocks are exceedingly dangerous." The United States is a country deeply divided over how to address persistent gun violence that Biden has called a "national embarrassment." The litigation at issue did not involve whether the ban violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up another case touching on guns. The justices agreed to decide whether a New York state official stifled the ability of the National Rifle Association to exercise free speech rights protected by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by pressuring banks and insurers to avoid doing business with the influential gun rights group.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has Expanded Gun Rights in three major rulings since 2008 This is disingenuous and should NEVER be used to talk about our 2nd rights, We Are Not "EXPANDING" Gun Rights, We are RESTORING rights that have been taken away, PERIOD, HARD STOP! Not picking on the O.P. here, but pointing out the left's BULLSHIT lies about our rights and how the court is ruling on the 2nd as completely untruthful in reporting! Bout god damn time the SCOTUS stopped pussyfooting around the 2nd and is actually stepping up to take on the leftists anti gunners once and for all! Our Rights are NON NEGOTIABLE, not open to discussion, legislation or infringements, PERIOD! The Fuckin AFT needs disbanded and all gun laws struck down! That's not an expansion of our rights, That's Restoration!
This is the part that interests me: The case centers on whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a U.S. Justice Department agency, properly interpreted a law banning machine guns as extending to bump stocks. The new rule, which reversed a prior stance by the agency, took effect in 2019. If they rule that the atf improperly ruled on bump stocks it may help to overrule other atf bans created in board rooms in DC on one day and then reversed later like the reversal on AR pistol braces...80% receivers and...
Seems to me that the case involving public officials pressuring financial institutions and insurers to bring pressure on gun owners or groups is way more important than bump stocks and braces.
And in IL the 7th circuit appeals upheld the Safety Act 2-1 that basically bans all semi auto rifles and requires pre ban semi autos and accessories to be registered with the State Police by January 1st 2024. SCOTUS Review has already been filed.
The current SCOTUS if not the slam dunk we thought to expect with three we thought were originalists have shown unexpected weakness on the 2A.
"Shall not be infringed" Any U.S. Citizen complying with an unconstitutional mandate deserves what they get.
From the looks of it, the Pistol Brace ruling is also heading for the Supreme Court too. Given how it has been handled by the lower courts, it looks to have a positive outcome which will also bleed over to other ATF rulings. Frankly, I think the ATF is in trouble and they know it.
