U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is applauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) ruling in Garland v. Cargill which overturns the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule that bans bump stocks. This ruling will allow for the people of Wyoming to use bump stocks, which are commonly used by our nation’s veterans due to service-related injuries.
“The people of Wyoming have a right to protect their family and property, and I am thrilled SCOTUS agrees. The ATF blatantly misused the National Firearms Act to erode the people of Wyoming’s right to bear arms while also trying to manipulate federal laws to increase its powers and punish law-abiding citizens,” said Lummis. “The Supreme Court finally held regulators accountable and defended the people of Wyoming from gun grabbers in Washington.”
In January, Senator Lummis led eight of her colleagues in filing an amici curiae brief focusing on the Chevron doctrine, ATF overreach and the need for Congress to draft clear criminal laws.
BACKGROUND:
- Michael Cargill, the plaintiff, bought two bump stocks in April 2018, before the ATF issued its final rule outlawing them, but turned in the devices in March 2019 after the ban went into effect.
- That same day, he filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Texas challenging the ban on numerous grounds.
- The district court sided with the federal government and upheld the ban.
- A three-judge appeals court panel of the Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court’s conclusion that bump stocks qualify as machine guns under federal law and were subject to a 1986 ban under the National Firearms Act.
- However, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision.
- Following the ruling by the Fifth Circuit, the Biden administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
