The issue in this action is whether the ATF had constitutional
authority to reclassify semi-automatic firearms, primarily the AR15, as
machineguns if the firearm’s stock was one that is commonly known as a
“bumpstock.”
Prior to the ATF’s rule change it had issued at
least 15 letters stating its official position that a bumpstock neither
constituted a machinegun nor transformed a semi-automatic rifle into a
machinegun. In reliance on the ATF’s actions, many manufacturers made
bumpstocks and hundreds of thousands, if not more, American citizens
lawfully purchased bumpstocks, at a price in the range of $200 or more
each, for their personal or recreational use.
After the Las Vegas
murders on October 1, 2017, gun control advocates once again seized on
the tragedy to demand that Congress enact more gun control. Although
some in Congress proposed legislation, Congress did not enact any of it.
When Congress refused to change the statutory definitions, then
President Donald Trump directed the ATF to take action against
bumpstocks. Not surprisingly, Donald Trump’s instruction to the
administrative agency that he controlled resulted in the ATF concluding
that its many prior letters finding that bumpstocks did not convert
semiautomatic firearms to machineguns were wrong.
A court
challenged was made and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that
ATF’s reclassification of semiautomatic firearms having bumpstocks as
machineguns subject to the National Firearms Act was in error and struck
down the ATF’s rule. ATF appealed to the Supreme Court which will
address the issue in 2024.
Tennessee Firearms Association and
the Tennessee Firearms Foundation (a 501c3 charity) have joined with Gun
Owners of America and numerous others to support the Fifth Circuit’s
opinion and ask the Supreme Court to affirm the Fifth Circuit’s decision
and forever strike down the bumpstock ban.
If you appreciate
this work and would like to help the Tennessee Firearms Association and
the Tennessee Firearms Foundation, please consider
joining the TFA, making a supplemental
member contribution to the TFA, and/or making a
tax deductible contribution to the Tennessee Firearms Foundation.
