It’s been a rough week for the Biden administration on gun policy. They got double-tapped on the areas where they could ostensibly score regulatory wins. As Spencer wrote earlier today, the Supreme Court slapped down the ban on bump stocks in a 6-3 vote:
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Garland v. Cargill that the ATF exceeded its statutory authority by classifying bump stocks as "machineguns" in the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Written by Justice Thomas, the majority opinion released Friday morning explains that "Congress could have linked the definition of 'machinegun' to a weapon's rate of fire" in the National Firearms Act of 1934 but "it instead enacted a statute that turns on whether a weapon can fire more than one shot 'automatically...by a single function of the trigger.'"
"We hold that a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a 'machinegun' because it cannot fire more than one shot 'by a single function of the trigger,'" Thomas writes. "And, even if it could, it would not do so 'automatically.'" As such, the Supreme Court arrived at its ruling that the "ATF therefore exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a Rule that classifies bump stocks as machineguns."
"It is never our job to rewrite...statutory text under the banner of speculation about what Congress might have done," Thomas emphasizes in his conclusion.
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On Thursday, a federal court sided with the Firearms Policy Coalition regarding pistol braces, striking down the Biden administration’s attempt to regulate and tax AR-15 “pistols” (via Washington Examiner):
🚨 FPC GRASSROOTS ARMY WIN 🚨
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 13, 2024
In our Mock v. Garland ATF Pistol Brace Rule Lawsuit, the District Court has issued its decision and VACATED THE RULE! pic.twitter.com/OOsFcPZilk
"For the reasons set out above, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment on the grounds that the Final Rule violated the APA’s procedural requirements because it was arbitrary and capricious and was not a logical outgrowth of the Proposed Rule; DENIES Defendants’…
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 13, 2024
If you need to catch up on our victory in Mock v. Garland, check out our press release here: https://t.co/VYZ3nL6wfn
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 14, 2024
In a huge blow to President Joe Biden’s bid to ban “assault weapons,” a federal court today ruled that the administration’s effort to regulate and tax AR-15 style “pistols” is “unlawful” and “illegitimate.”
In a 12-page decision, the Texas-based U.S. District Court vacated the rule that could have led to the destruction of millions of firearms, among the most popular in America, and the jailing of owners who had refused to comply with the administration.
The court also blasted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for thinking that it could change a long-established exemption overnight to make ownership of the firearms illegal.
Besides getting back-to-back defeats on its anti-gun agenda, Biden was seen meandering and staring off into space during the G7 summit in Italy. He also got chippy with the press when they asked him a non-pre-approved question. It was a rough week for the old man.
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