The Supreme Court has agreed to determine if the Trump administration lawfully banned bump stocks, which are attachments that allow semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly.

The Biden administration has supported the ban in Supreme Court briefs, recognizing the Trump administration’s rare action to reduce gun violence.

These devices were used by a gunman in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, where 58 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

Initially, the Justice Department claimed it lacked the authority to ban bump stocks without congressional action, but later reversed its position.

This case focuses on executive power, not the Second Amendment. Opponents argue that the regulation, which took effect in 2019, was not authorized by federal laws that primarily prohibit machine guns.

According to the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968, a machine gun is defined as a weapon that can discharge multiple shots automatically without manual reloading. The government’s lawyers argue that bump stocks fall under this definition.

One brief in the case, Garland v. Cargill, No. 22-976, states that modified rifles with bump stocks can fire hundreds of bullets per minute, citing the Las Vegas shooting as an example.

There have been conflicting appeals court rulings on whether the regulation was authorized by the laws, resulting in 22 opinions spanning 350 pages.

Challengers argue that there is still controversy and dispute over the purchase of 520,000 bump stocks, the expected loss of property value exceeding $100 million, the lack of national uniformity in their sale and possession, and the criminalization of previously legal conduct without legislative action.

Bump stocks operate by utilizing a firearm’s recoil energy to enable sustained firing after a single trigger pull. The Justice Department argues that this transforms semiautomatic weapons into machine guns, subject to federal regulations.

However, challengers contend that more than a single trigger pull is required for a weapon to be considered a machine gun, as additional actions must be taken by the shooter to fire multiple shots.

Quoting from the regulation, opponents state that producing a second shot involves placing forward pressure on the barrel-shroud or fore-grip of the rifle while maintaining constant rearward pressure on the trigger finger.