Joins Republican Colleagues in Filing Brief with Supreme Court Opposing a Ban on Bump Stocks
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines joined a group of his Republican colleagues and multiple legal experts in filing an amici curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case Garland v. Cargill. The brief asserts the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) ban on bump stocks under the National Firearms Act is not only an egregious violation of Montanans’ right to bear arms but also represents a dangerous new frontier of federal bureaucrats interpreting federal law in expansive new ways Congress clearly did not intend, including by weaponizing the Chevron doctrine to create new federal crimes out of thin air.
“Biden has weaponized the ATF to come after law-abiding Montana gun owners and it must be stopped. The Second Amendment is clear—the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and a ban on bump stocks would threaten Montanans’ constitutional right to defend themselves and their families,” said Daines.
Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) joined Daines in filing the brief.
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 machineguns 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.
Click HERE to read the brief.
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