Today the US Supreme Court takes on bump stocks, a device that allows a rifle-user to fire rapid shots, and the question of whether a bump stock turns the rifle into a machine gun has roots in Texas.
The Las Vegas mass murder was carried out by a former Garland man who used an AR-15 with a bump stock to fire 1,000 shots and kill 60 people during an outdoor concert. But does the rapid-fire, by legal definition, make a gun equipped with a bump stock a machine gun?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms concluded yes. But Austin gun shop owner Michael Cargill said no, and sued. And that's where this gets technical.
A bump stock uses the energy of a shot, and the recoil, to cause the gun to continue firing so long as the finger is on the trigger. The ATF says that is a machine gun, by definition.
But Cargill, and the full 5th Circuit Court, says not so fast. Each firing may be caused by the energy of the previous shot, but it results in a split-second pull of the trigger over and over. Meaning it is not a machine gun.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments and decide by the end of June.
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