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after a gunman killed 58 people in Las Vegas and hurt hundreds more using a bump stock to automate his rifle fire into the crowd, then-president Donald Trump banned the devices. The U.S. Supreme Court today lifted that ban, with Justice Clarence Thomas (R—Harlan Crow) saying that firearms with bump stocks do not meet the Federal definition of a machine gun irrespective of their rate of fire.

The 6-3 vote fell on ideological lines, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor voicing her dissent: "When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." In his concurrence with the majority, Justice Samuel Alito conceded that in "practical terms" a weapon equipped with a bump stock is a machine gun but that it was down to Congress to ban them.

The ruling does not lift state bans on bump stocks; eighteen states have done so. The NRA briefly supported the federal ban, sensing public fury at the massacre, but returned to opposing it when no serious political support for gun reform emerged.

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NBC

Oct. 8, 2017,

By Kailani Koenig

WASHINGTON — House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is still recovering from his wounds after a gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress in June, told Chuck Todd in an exclusive interview for “Meet the Press” that he still stands behind the unlimited right to bear arms.

“Our Founding Fathers believed strongly in gun rights for citizens," said Scalise, R-La.

Instead of passing new regulations in the wake of the Las Vegas mass shooting, which thrust the country’s lawmakers into the center of the debate over gun control, existing ones should be enforced, he said.

“Don't try to put new laws in place that don't fix these problems," said Scalise, who was gravely wounded on June 14 when a shooter opened fire on the GOP's congressional baseball team as members practiced in Virginia. "They only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own a gun.”

When asked if he believed the right to bear arms was "unlimited," Scalise said: "It is, it is."

Full Interview: After Being Shot, Scalise Still Opposes More Gun Control

20:18

During the shooting in June, Scalise was hit in the left hip but managed to drag himself into the outfield and was then rushed to a Washington hospital. The gunman was himself shot dead, while Scalise sustained grave injuries and required several operations. He returned to the House on Sept. 28 for the first time since the shooting, earning an emotional standing ovation from his colleagues.

Since the Las Vegas massacre, some top Republicans — including President Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — have indicated that they are open to looking at banning “bump stocks” — devices that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns. The National Rifle Association backed new regulations on bump stocks after a dozen of the devices were found in the Las Vegas shooter's hotel room.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the sponsor of a bill aimed at banning bump stocks, called on Americans to consider the fate of those killed in Las Vegas.

“Every American can look at, should look at those pictures and say, ‘Do we want more of this?’” she said on "Meet the Press." “This is one simple thing that stops the making of a semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun.”

Image: Ethan Avanzino grieves beside a white cross

Ethan Avanzino grieves beside a white cross for his friend Cameron Robinson, one of 58 victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting.Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

She admitted that she was not sure which specific laws would have prevented the shooting, however.

For his part, Scalise said he did not want Congress to examine the issue of bump stocks.

“Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi already said she wants it to be a slippery slope,” he said. “She doesn't want to stop at bump stocks. They want to go out and limit the rights of gun owners.”

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He said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should revisit their 2010 decision that legalized bump stocks — a request also made by the NRA.

“A week ago… most people didn't know what a bump stock was,” he said. “So to think that we're now all experts and know how to write some ... panacea law — it's fallacy. Let's focus on the facts. Let's get the facts and let's go focus on some of the problems.”

Scalise also said he was opposed to limits on the number of firearms a person could purchase during a given time.

“It’s dangerous for the concept that the federal government would have some kind of list of who has guns and what they have,” he said.

When asked whether he agreed with laws banning automatic weapons, the congressman said that existing regulations hadn't resulted in a reduction of violence.

“Some of the weapons that [current laws] included in there aren't really automatic weapons,” said Scalise. “You haven't seen a decrease in gun violence with those laws on the books. So go and enforce the laws that are there.”

Scalise also said people across the country used firearms to protect themselves from criminals — an argument consistently used by gun rights advocates.

Image:

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Tex., and other members of the Republican Congressional softball team stand behind police tape of the scene of the shootings in Alexandria on June 14.Cliff Owen / AP

A member of the U.S. Capitol Police detail shot the gunman who opened fire on Scalise and his colleagues.

During his “Meet The Press” interview, Scalise said much good had come from the shooting, which he called "a bad act."

"The love, the support, the prayers from people all around the country — it touched me and my wife Jennifer in a way that, you know, maybe we never would've imagined, because it was so overwhelming," he said. "And such a good sign of America that you don't see a lot, but we felt it directly.”

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House Majority Whip Steve Scalise on Sunday criticized proposed legislation to ban so-called bump stocks as a “rush to judgment” in the wake of last week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.

In an interview on “Meet the Press,” the Louisiana Republican, who was seriously injured in a shooting targeting a GOP congressional baseball practice in June, expressed skepticism about Democratic calls for a ban on bump stocks, a modification that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire like fully automatic weapons. Several guns the Las Vegas gunman had in his hotel room were modified with bump stocks.

“If you talked to anybody about a week ago, most people, including myself, didn’t even know what a bump stock was,” Scalise said. “So now we’re finding out about it. There are people that want to rush to judgment. They’ve got a bill written already.”

“It’s a little bit early for people to say they know what to do to fix this problem,” Scalise said.

Scalise, however, endorsed a review of regulations on bump stocks. The National Rifle Association called for the review last week. Democrats such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), however, have countered that a ban needs to be codified into law so it remains in place.

“They want to go out and limit the rights of gun owners,” Scalise said of Democratic proposals, specifically naming House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who argued for wider gun control measures beyond bump stocks.

“I would first say that we’ve had a gun control debate for a long time,” Scalise said, citing the NRA’s endorsement of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s vocal support for stricter gun control laws.

Scalise instead argued for enforcement of “limits that are already in place” and “laws that are on the books” and contended that Congress has acted to “address different components” of mass shootings, such as mental health.

“Frankly, let’s go out and enforce those laws,” Scalise said. “Don’t try to put new laws in place that don’t fix these problems. They only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own a gun.”

-=-=-=

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X (Twitter)

https://twitter.com/Project21News

You may not have been paying much attention to the #SupremeCourt's bump stocks decision, but it was extremely important -- especially if you support the #2ndAmendment.

Project 21's @CraigDeLuz explains why.

#SCOTUS #SecondAmendment #2A #gunrights @SteveLanceNTD @NTDNews

Posted on X · 4 hours ago

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UPI

DOJ permits sale of triggers that allow rifles to fire like machine guns

Allen Cone

:{Sun, May 18, 2025

The U.S. Justice Department said it will allow the sale of devices, including by Rare Breed Firarms that enable standard guns to operate like machine guns. Photo courtesy Rare Breed Firearms/Instagram

May 18 (UPI) -- The federal government will allow the sale of devices that enable standard rifles to operate like machine guns, a move that angered gun control groups.

The Justice Department said Friday it reached a settlement with Rare Breed Triggers. This is in accordance with President Donald Trump's Feb. 17 executive order Protecting Second Amendment Rights and the attorney general's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force announced on April 8.

Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supplies in Bridgeton, Mo., shows off the popular Smith and Wesson AR-15, 556 caliber rifle. File photo by Bill Greenblatt

"This Department of Justice believes that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "And we are glad to end a needless cycle of litigation with a settlement that will enhance public safety."

There are two ways to speed the firing of bullets. Bump stocks use the recoil of the weapon to repeatedly bump the trigger, while trigger devices are aftermarket items that directly engage the trigger.

During the first Trump administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banned bump stocks, which mimic rapid trigger pulls to fire rapidly in a way similar to a machine gun. In 2017, the gunman in a mass shooting killed 58 people in Las Vegas while firing from his hotel room window using bump stocks.

In 2022, ATF included specific trigger devices under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The ATF determined that the devices allow a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle to fire as fast as a military M-16 in automatic mode.

In 2023, the Justice Department, as part of the Biden administration, brought a lawsuit in New York against Rare Breed Triggers.

The National Association of Gun Rights filed a separate lawsuit in Texas challenging the ban and a judge there ruled the ban was unlawful.

In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote in Cargill v. Garland, ruled ATF exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a rule classifying a bump stock as a "machine gun."

The Court's majority found that bump stocks do not meet the definition of a machine gun because they didn't allow for automatic fire with the single pull of a trigger.

The next month, the Northern District of Texas applied the case to a device called a "forced-reset trigger" and concluded that they also cannot be classified as a "machine gun."

DOJ is avoiding additional legal action against Rare Breed Triggers in appeals and related cases concerning the similar issue, Bondi said.

Sneaky New Move By Shameless Republicans Puts Millions Of American Lives In Danger

HuffPost

The settlement with Rare Breed Triggers includes agreed-upon conditions that significantly advance public safety with respect to FRTs, including that Rare Breed will not develop or design them for use in any pistol and will enforce its patents to prevent infringement that could threaten public safety.

Rare Breed also agreed promote the safe and responsible use of its products.

"The cuffs are off. As of May 16, 2025, we're free! Expect the website to be updated on Monday, May 19," the company posted on its website.

The decision was condemned by Vanessa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Giffords, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in 2011 while meeting with constituents in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz.

"The Trump administration has just effectively legalized machine guns. Lives will be lost because of his actions," Gonzalez said. "This is an incredibly dangerous move that will enable shooters to inflict horrific damage. The only people who benefit from these being on the market are the people who will make money from selling them, everyone else will suffer the consequences."

The national gun control advocacy group Brady United said in a press release that "highly dangerous weapons of war can now be purchased anonymously" and without a background check.

"The Trump Administration's secret settlement with the gun lobby to permit the sale of Forced Reset Triggers will turn already deadly firearms into weapons of mass destruction," Kris Brown, president of Brady United, said in the release.

"Machine guns are weapons of war that have absolutely no place in our communities. This dangerous backroom deal is not only an astonishing abuse of power, but undermines decades of sensible government gun safety policy and puts whole communities at immediate serious risk," he said.

Brady previous was called the National Council to Control Handguns and founded in 1974 by Dr. Mark Borinsky, whose son was shot and killed in 1974.

In 1981, White House Press Secretary Jim "the Bear" Brady suffered a bullet to the head, and the organization now bears his name.

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WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A D.C. man was sentenced Thursday for wielding a loaded machine gun towards an elementary school in October 2024, according to the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia.

Jason Jerome Bell, 21, pleaded guilty in January to unlawful possession of a machine gun and carrying a pistol without a license. He was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

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According to court documents, around 2:45 pm on Oct. 11, a U.S. Park Police investigator was surveilling Bell after they received reports that he was brandishing a fully loaded machine gun at a car in front of an elementary school while staff were present.

The investigator located Bell in an alley behind a home in the 1900 block of 16th Street SE, where he was aiming a firearm at a silver sedan.

Bell was arrested, and a search resulted in the seizure of a loaded Glock 30 Gen 4 pistol, .45 caliber, outfitted with a switch that converted the semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic machine gun. The Glock had 26 rounds in the magazine and one round in the chamber.

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Court documents refer to Marrero as an "organized, experienced, and demanding drug trafficker" with "palpable, inherent violence."

Three charged in Opelousas with drugs and machine guns possession

KLFY Lafayette

8 days ago

Three men were arrested in Opelousas, Louisiana for possession of drugs and machine guns, with one suspect also charged with possession with intent to distribute synthetic marijuana.

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Machine gun-maker violates federal election law with illegal super PAC donation

Mark Alesia

and Raw Story

August 13, 2023

An Ohio maker of firearms and warfare weaponry, which says its “notable customers” include the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy, has violated federal election law.

Ohio Ordnance Works of Chadron, Ohio, whose fully automatic machine guns are “currently deployed by U.S. and international forces” and “ready for battle right out of the box,” will pay a $19,000 fine, according to an agreement with the Federal Election Commission.

The company admitted making money from the U.S. government as a contractor and, later, making a $100,000 donation to a right-wing super PAC, said the conciliation agreement with the FEC, a bipartisan regulatory agency.

That’s against federal election law, which bars “contributions to political committees by any person who enters into a contract with the United States or its departments … if payment on such contract is to be made in whole or in part from funds appropriated by Congress.”

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A complaint to the FEC said Ohio Ordnance Works made the donation in 2022 to the Club for Growth Action, which lists as a priority “defeating big-government Democrats in red seats and swing districts and replacing them with pro-growth conservatives.”

Club for Growth Action refunded the $100,000 contribution in May of this year, and the FEC did not penalize thesuper PAC.

As a super PAC, Club for Growth Action may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for and against political candidates, and it frequently does so in support of conservative politicians.During the 2021-2022 election cycle alone, it spent nearly $70 millionto back or attack federal-level candidates, according to nonpartisan research organization OpenSecrets.

Ohio Ordnance Works had argued that while it did have a “master contract” with the Defense Logistics Agency, an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense, it wasn’t a federal contractor because there were no active purchase orders when it made the donation to Club for Growth Action.

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But the FEC’s legal office disagreed, and the agency’s six commissioners — three Republicans, three Democrats — unanimously voted to approve the $19,000 fine.

Ohio Ordnance Works says it has “grown into a world class manufacturer of light, medium, and heavy machine guns able to compete globally with much larger manufacturers.”

The company’s website features the OOW249 Squad Automatic Weapon (S.A.W.), which “provides infantry fire teams with the heavy volume of fire of a machine gun combined with light weight and accuracy. It fires the NATO standard 5.56mm cartridge from a belt or magazine, and is capable of engaging targets out to 800 meters.”

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