Bump stock
Bump stocks or bump fire stocks are gun stocks that can be used to assist in bump firing, the act of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to fire cartridges in rapid succession.
The legality of bump stocks in the United States came under question following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which 60 people were killed and 867 people injured. The gunman was found to have fitted bump stocks to his weapons, though no evidence was reported in which any of these specific weapons were actually used in the shooting. Several states passed legislation restricting ownership of bump stocks following this shooting. In December 2018, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published a rule that bump stocks constituted "machine guns", and thus were illegal under federal law. The Supreme Court vacated this regulation in June 2024 in Garland v. Cargill. Bump stocks remain illegal in 15 states and the District of Columbia based on state bans not affected by the Supreme Court ruling.
Bump fire stocks
Bump fire stocks are gun stocks that are specially designed to make bump firing easier, but do not make the firearm automatic. Essentially, bump stocks assist rapid fire by "bumping" the trigger against one's finger, thus allowing the firearm's recoil, plus constant forward pressure by the non-shooting arm, to actuate the trigger. Bump fire stocks can be placed on a few common weapons such as the AR or AK families. They can achieve rates of fire between 400 and 800 rounds per minute depending on the gun. By 2018, bump fire stocks in the United States were sold for around $100 and up, with prices increasing prior to enactment of federal regulation.Slide Fire Solutions, the inventor, patent holder, and leading manufacturer of bump stocks, suspended sales after bump stocks were used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and resumed sales a month later. On May 20, 2018, 95 days after the Parkland high school shooting, Slide Fire Solutions permanently halted sales and production of its products even though bump stocks were not involved in the shooting. However, after the June 2024 ruling, Slide Fire announced they are producing bump fire stocks again.
Regulatory status in the United States
Bump stocks are banned in California, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, according to Everytown for Gun Safety as of June 14, 2024.History of regulation
United States
In 2002, one of the first bump stock-type devices, the Akins Accelerator invented by Bill Akins, was deemed by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to not be a "machine gun". The Akins Accelerator used an internal spring to force the firearm forward to re-make contact with the trigger finger after the recoil of the previous shot pushed the firearm rearward. The ATF interpreted a "single function of the trigger" to mean a "single movement of the trigger", and since the trigger moved for each shot, the Akins Accelerator was deemed to not be a machine gun. Later, in 2006, the ATF reversed course and reinterpreted the language to mean "single pull of the trigger", which reclassified the Akins Accelerator as a machine gun. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the new interpretation in February 2009.More modern bump stocks were invented by Slide Fire Solutions founder Jeremiah Cottle as a replacement stock for people who have limited hand mobility. Such bump stocks have no internal spring and require the shooter to use their support hand to maintain constant forward pressure on the front of the rifle in order to achieve continuous fire. Between 2008 and 2017, the ATF issued ten letter rulings that classified bump stocks as a "firearm part", which are unregulated. However, in March 2018, as a result of the use of bump stocks in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, at the request of President Trump through executive order, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a plan to reclassify bump stocks as "machine guns" under existing federal law, effectively banning them nationwide. Only two states had banned bump stocks prior to the Las Vegas shooting. The final rule of the DoJ was issued on December 18, 2018.
Bump stocks remained illegal for nearly all US civilians until the regulation was struck down on June 14, 2024, by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Garland v. Cargill.
Public opinion
Immediately following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, 72% of registered voters supported a bump stock ban, including 68% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats, according to a Morning Consult poll. After the Parkland shooting, a 2018 NPR/Ipsos poll found that 81% of American adults supported and 62% strongly favored banning bump stocks with a margin of error of ±3.5 percentage points. Another poll, by CBS News, around the same time, found that 56% of American adults supported banning bump stocks with a margin of error of ±4 percentage points.2018 Final Rule
The ATF ruled in 2010 that bump stocks were not a firearm subject to regulation and allowed their sale as an unregulated firearm part. In the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, twelve bump stocks were found at the scene. The National Rifle Association stated on October 5, 2017, "Devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations", and called on regulators to "immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law". The 2017 shooting generated bipartisan interest in regulating bump stocks. On October 4, 2017, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill to ban bump stocks, but it was not acted upon. Instead, on February 20, 2018, six days after the Parkland shooting, President Trump instructed the ATF to issue regulations to treat bump stocks as machine guns.President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for having "legalized bump stocks", which he termed a "BAD IDEA", a claim which was found to be partly erroneous by USA Today, with an ATF official involved in the decision saying neither Obama nor then-Attorney General Eric Holder advised the agency on its ruling and a constitutional law professor explaining that the administration did not possess the legal authority to ban the sale of the devices. On March 23, 2018, at President Trump's request the Department of Justice announced a plan to ban bump stocks at the federal level. The proposed change would reclassify bump stocks as "machine guns" and effectively ban the devices in the United States under existing federal law. A notice of proposed rulemaking was issued by the ATF on March 29, 2018, and opened for public comments. Over 119,000 comments were submitted in support of the proposed rule, while over 66,000 comments expressed opposition to it. On December 18, 2018, the final regulation to ban bump stocks was issued by the Department of Justice and published in the Federal Register on December 26. The final rule stated that "bump-stock-type devices" are covered by the Gun Control Act, as amended under the Hughes Amendment, which with limited exceptions, makes it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machine gun unless it was lawfully possessed prior to 1986. Since the bump-stock-type devices covered by this final rule were not in existence prior to 1986, they would be prohibited when the rule becomes effective. The ban went into effect on March 26, 2019, by which owners of bump stocks were required to destroy or surrender them to the ATF, punishable by up to a $250,000 fine and/or prison sentences of up to ten years.
A Freedom of Information Act Request by YouTuber "CheapShot" revealed the ATF received 582 abandoned bump stocks and 98 retained for evidence, out of an estimated 220,000 - 520,000 in circulation.
2024 vacating of the 2018 Final Rule
On June 14, 2024, the 2018 final rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was vacated by the Supreme Court of the United States in the decision for Garland v. Cargill. In that decision, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the six member majority, stated the 2018 final rule exceeded the ATF's statutory authority under the National Firearms Act of 1934 as a bump stock does not satisfy the Act's definition of machine gun.State
Prior to the federal ban effective March 26, 2019, some states had taken action on their own to restrict ownership of the accessory. Since 1990, the sale of bump stocks has been illegal in California. They were banned in New York with the passage of the NY SAFE Act in 2013, and more explicitly banned in early 2019. The device's legal status is unclear in Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, and Puerto Rico.After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting
In his final day as governor in January 2018, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed legislation making the gun accessory illegal in New Jersey. Massachusetts banned bump stocks after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.In March 2018, following the Parkland high school shooting, Florida enacted SB 7026, which, among other things, banned bump stocks. The portion of the legislation banning bump stocks took effect in October 2018; possession in Florida is a third-degree felony. Vermont passed a similar law in 2018, which went into effect in October 2018; possession in Vermont is a misdemeanor. Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Washington, Washington D.C., and Nevada have also banned bump stocks.
Some states that do not ban bump stocks may have localities that ban them, such as Northbrook, Illinois ; Boulder, Colorado ; and others.