Supreme Court Hears Texas Gun Store Owner’s Lawsuit Against Bump Stock Ban

Central Texas Gun Works owner Michael Cargill’s lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) bump stock ban went to the Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday.

In November 2023, Cargill told Breitbart News his goal was to stop federal agencies from being weaponized against the American people.

He said, “The federal government, they initially started out with just the bump stock. They focused on this little part, this little piece here. But since then, it’s grown to other things. Federal agencies are using the exact same verbiage, the exact rule they used to ban the bump stock to go after everything else.”

Cargill added, “They’re going after AR-15 stabilizer braces. They’re going after triggers, after 80 percent frames and receivers, all with the same words and language as they used against bump stocks.”

The “language” referenced by Cargill is that by which the ATF re-defines or re-categorizes pre-existing guns, parts, or accessories.

For example, Nation Public Radio’s Martin Kaste noted the language of the ATF bump stock ban “reclassifies [bump stocks] as ‘machine guns,’ no matter when they were purchased, and owning one will become a felony.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided in Cargill’s favor in January 2023, noting that a bump stock is not a “machine gun.” That ruling was appealed to SCOTUS, where it will be heard Wednesday.

The Washington Times quoted Cargill saying, “Once you give them an inch, they will take a mile…If we win, we use this case law down the road for the Second Amendment community.”

The case is Cargill v. Garland in the Supreme Court of the United States.

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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.