The Supreme Court threw out a Trump-era rule that banned so-called “bump stocks” that allow rifles to mimic automatic fire, finding the government overstepped its authority when it relied on a federal law that applies to machine guns.
In a sharply divided 6-3 decision, the conservative justices in the majority ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could not ban the device that attaches to the back of a firearm that allows it to mimic automatic weapons.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote separately to point out that it is up to Congress to prohibit bump stocks such as the one used in the “horrible shooting spree” in Las Vegas that killed more than 50 people at a music festival in 2017.
