March 25, 2021
For immediate release

VICTORY: Court Rules Bump Stock is NOT a Machine Gun

Springfield, VA Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the district court's decision, which had denied GOA'smotion for a preliminary injunction to prevent ATF from implementing a final rule incorrectly classifying bump stocks as machineguns under federallaw.

This case was brought by Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), Matt Watkins, Tim Harmsen of the Military Arms Channel, and GOA's Texas Director, Rachel Malone.



"Today's court decision is great news and told gun owners what they already knew," said GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. "We are glad the court applied the statute accurately, and struck down the ATF's illegal overreach and infringement of gun owners' rights."



"Chevron deference does not apply to agency interpretation of criminal statute thus court does not need to decide whether agency can waive chevron deference therefore court must determine BEST MEANING of the statute the "statutory context" of "single function of the trigger" "weighs heavily in Plaintiff-Appellants' favor" adopt our position that it "refers to the mechanical process"

Pratt added that the court understood our argument when they included in the opinion that: "A bump stock may change how the pull of the trigger is accomplished, but it does not change the fact that the semiautomatic firearm shoots only one shot for each pull of the trigger."

"With or without a bump stock, a semiautomatic firearm is capable of firing only a single shot for each pull of the trigger and is unable to fire again until the trigger is released and the hammer of the firearm is reset."





Ruling can be read here.