Bump Stock Sales Resume in 3 States After Feds Miss Deadline to File Appeal

A bump stock is installed on an AK-47 and its movement is demonstrated at Good Guys Gun and Range in Orem, Utah, on Feb. 21, 2018. (George Frey/Getty Images)

Sales of bump stocks have resumed in three states after federal authorities let a deadline pass to file a legal challenge against a court ruling that invalidated an administrative ban on the devices, which boost firing speed.

Guns shops in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi can now legally sell bump stocks after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) failed to file a motion by a Feb. 27 deadline to block a ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that in January struck down a federal ban on bump stocks.

The 5th Circuit Court, which handles cases from the three states, ruled on Jan. 6 (pdf) that the ATF short-circuited the legislative process when it issued an administrative decision in 2018 that treated bump stocks under federal law as equivalent to machine guns.

The ATF's administrative decision—which went into effect in 2019—made possession of bump stocks a federal crime carrying a penalty of up to 10 years behind bars and a $250,000 fine.

'I Wasn't Surprised'

The bump stock ban prompted a lawsuit by Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works in Austin, Texas, who was handed a victory when the 5th Circuit ruled to invalidate the ATF ban.

"I wasn't surprised," Cargill told The Dallas Morning News. "I was excited, because I felt that this was the absolute right decision to make."

While the ATF's bump stock ban remains in effect outside Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the appeals court ruling prevents the agency from enforcing the rule in those three states.

The ATF told media outlets in a statement that it's unable to comment on litigation.

A bump fire stock that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate is seen at Good Guys Gun Shop in Orem, Utah, on Oct. 4, 2017. (George Frey/Reuters)

The ATF's decision to impose the ban came after a high-profile mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, in which shooter Stephen Paddock attached the devices to several semiautomatic rifles he used to shoot festivalgoers from his hotel room.

Paddock was found to have fired more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition from the 32nd floor of the Las Vegas Strip hotel where he was staying.

The Trump-era Department of Justice in 2019 amended ATF regulations, banning the sale and possession of bump stocks. It found that the devices fall within the definition of “machine gun” under federal law because they “allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger.”

At the time, the Supreme Court refused to block the government from enforcing the ban.

The 5th Circuit Court noted in its ruling that for years prior to the Las Vegas shooting, the ATF held that bump stocks on semi-automatic weapons didn't meet the definition of a machine gun.