Rifles on a wall rack. The U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned a rule banning bump stocks, a device that allows a semi-automatic to fire at a rapid rate much like a fully automatic gun. (Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts blocked a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would ban bump stocks following a Supreme Court decision that repealed a Trump-era rule against using the gun accessory.
Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, objected to New Mexico Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich’s request that the chamber approve his bill — cosponsored by Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins — by unanimous consent.
Heinrich attempted to pass the bill, which the trio introduced last year, following the Supreme Court ruling last week that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lacked the authority to ban bump stocks.
“As a firearms owner myself, there’s no legitimate use for a bump stock,” Heinrich said. “What they are tailor made for is a mass shooting.”
The bill, S. 1909, would ban the sale of bump stocks that allow semi-automatic weapons to rapidly fire multiple rounds like a machine gun.
Ricketts argued that the Supreme Court made the right decision and said the bill didn’t just ban bump stocks but also “targets other firearm accessories.”
Ricketts added that the bill is a violation of the Second Amendment.
“This bill is about banning as many firearm accessories as possible and giving ATF broad authority to ban most semi-automatic firearms,” Ricketts said. “It’s an unconstitutional attack on law-abiding gun owners.”
As a firearms owner myself, there’s no legitimate use for a bump stock. What they are tailor made for is a mass shooting.
– U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico
Heinrich said the bill would not ban a large amount of firearm accessories, but would ban things like Glock switches, which can be attached to the side of a Glock handgun to convert a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic firearm.
“I think the American people understand what common-sense gun safety looks like,” Heinrich said.
Senate procedure requires 60 votes to proceed on most legislation. But for the chamber to approve a measure by unanimous consent, no senator can object.
Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned an ATF regulation, enacted during former President Donald Trump’s administration after the Las Vegas mass shooting, which defined a semi-automatic rifle equipped with a bump stock attachment as a machine gun. Machine guns are generally prohibited under federal law.
In that mass shooting, a gunman used rifles outfitted with bump stocks to fire into a crowd of 22,000 people at a music festival, killing 58 people that night and two more who died of their injuries later, and injuring more than 500.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that the bill was needed because the Supreme Court’s decision was “an utter disgrace.”
“It will endanger our communities, endanger law enforcement, and make it easier for mass shooters to unleash carnage,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said.
The opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, who is a strong defender of Second Amendment gun rights, deemed that the ATF exceeded its statutory authority in prohibiting the sale and possession of bump stocks, which he said differed importantly from machine guns.
“Nothing changes when a semiautomatic rifle is equipped with a bump stock,” Thomas wrote. “Between every shot, the shooter must release pressure from the trigger and allow it to reset before reengaging the trigger for another shot.”
Additionally, the decision, which was split along ideological lines, limits the federal government’s ability to address gun violence in the absence of congressional action.
More federal gun legislation unlikely
With a split Congress, any gun-safety related legislation is unlikely to pass. However, after Friday’s decision, President Joe Biden called on Congress to ban bump stocks and assault weapons.
“Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation,” Biden said at the time.
The last time Congress passed gun legislation was in 2022 after two mass shootings that occurred less than two weeks apart.
One was at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed. The other was in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist targeted a predominantly Black neighborhood and killed 10 Black people.
The 2022 gun safety legislation did not ban any firearms but provided funds for mental health and to help states enact red flag laws, which allow the courts to temporarily remove a firearm from an individual who is a threat to themselves or others, among other provisions.
That same year, the Supreme Court decided on a major gun-related case that invalidated a New York law against carrying a firearm in public without showing a special need for protection.
Because of that decision, there’s another gun-related case before the court that will test a federal law that prevents the possession of firearms by a person who is subject to a domestic violence protective order. A decision on that is expected this month.
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