Everytown Law Issues Statement in Response to Oral Argument in Garland v. Cargill

Everytown Law Issues Statement in Response to Oral Argument in Garland v. Cargill

NEW YORK – Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Garland v. Cargill, a critical case that centers on a reckless decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down a rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prohibit the production, sale, and possession of bump stocks, devices that are designed and intended to convert semi-automatic firearms into machine guns. How the Supreme Court decides in this case will determine if bump stocks will once again be legalized in a majority of states across the country.

“Bump stocks were used to perpetuate the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history and there is no question that these devices shouldn’t be allowed in civilian hands,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law. “Today’s argument outlined by the Principal Deputy Solicitor General makes it clear that the ATF had the authority to categorize bump stocks as machine guns and keep them out of our communities. Now, the Supreme Court must right the Fifth Circuit’s wrong by reversing its extreme and reckless decision.”

The ATF’s rule was issued under the Trump Administration and following the deadliest mass shooting in American history – the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas where a gunman, using firearms equipped with bump stocks, opened fire at a music festival, killing 60 people and wounding at least 411 people. 

In January, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the ATF’s life-saving rule, contradicting two other federal appeals courts that previously rejected challenges to the ban. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is also at the center of a case currently before the Supreme Court: United States v. Rahimi, which centers on the Fifth Circuit’s extreme decision to strike down the long-standing law prohibiting individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing guns.