Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision, which had denied GOA’s motion for a preliminary injunction on bump stocks. Gun Owners of America is seeking an injunction to prevent ATF from implementing a final rule incorrectly classifying bump stocks as machineguns under federal law.
This case was brought by Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Matt Watkins, Tim Harmsen of the Military Arms Channel, and GOA’s Texas Director, Rachel Malone.
“Today’s court decision is great news and told gun owners what they already knew,” said GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. “We are glad the court applied the statute accurately, and struck down the ATF’s illegal overreach and infringement of gun owners’ rights.”
https://www.gunowners.org/victory-court-rules-a-bump-stock-is-not-a-machine-gun/
This was never about “bumpstocks,” but rather this was about fighting against the tyranny of the executive branch, e.g., the ATF, in enacting legislation outside the legislative process in Congress. This is about any and all firearms and firearms accessories, and preventing bureaucrats from picking and choosing what they decide is legal vs. illegal.
Here’s the opinion:
The GOA (Gun Owners of America) continues to do great work, fighting tyranny in the courts. The fight continues, so please donate to the battle:
One of my favorite parts of the opinion. Boy does this sound familiar:
First, giving one branch the power to both draft and enforce criminal statutes jeopardizes the people’s right to liberty. The concern over the potential abuse of power if the executive can define crimes predates our nation’s founding. See THE FEDERALIST NO. 47, at 251 (James Madison) (quoting Baron de Montesquieu that “[t]here can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or body of magistrates”); 1 WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, COMMENTARIES *146 (1753) (“In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistracy, or the right of both making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever these two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty.”); JOHN LOCKE, SECOND TREATISE OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT § 143, pp. 324-25 (T. Hollis ed., 1764) (1690).
NOTE: this doesn’t change the legal status of those states who’s legislatures banned bumpstocks: Delaware, Rhode Island, Washington, Nevada, California, Maryland, NJ, NY, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Vermont, I believe…… It also doesn’t say Congress can’t do so federally. This is just about the ATF doing it on their own.