October 12, 2017: ATF Association Admitted Bump Stocks Do Not Convert Semiautos into Machine Guns

On October 12, 2017, the ATF Association sent a letter to lawmakers informing them that the ATF had approved bump stocks because they do not turn a semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun.

The letter was dated 11 days after a man had carried out a mass shooting in Las Vegas using numerous rifles, at least some of which were equipped with bump stocks. There were growing calls to ban bump stocks in response to the heinous shooting and many gun controllers equated bump stocks with machine guns.

During this tumultuous time, the ATF Association sent a letter to lawmakers.

The letter, written by the group’s president, Michael Bouchard, said in part:

The National Firearms Act of 1934, Title 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) defines a “machine gun” as any combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon to shoot automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. ATF also holds that any item that can cause a firearm to fire more than one shot by the single function of the trigger is also regulated as a machine gun.

The Las Vegas killer used a “bump slide” accessory that attaches to the stock of a semi-automatic rifle and enhances the rate at which the shooter can pull the trigger on the firearm. This increases the rate of fire close to that of an actual machine gun. However, under the current law, it does not make it a machine gun.

Barack Obama’s ATF acted within the confines of the law when they approved bump stocks in 2010 and the ATF Association letter makes this clear: “ATF makes rulings based on the statutory authority contained in law and cannot change the law to add new accessories that do not fall within the scope of existing law.”

Despite the Assocation’s letter, the ATF went on to ban bump stocks in 2019. That ban was challenged by Texas gun store owner Michael Cargill.

The Supreme Court of the United States struck down the ATF’s bump stock ban on June 14, 2024, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion.

In the opinion, Thomas explained the very things that the ATF Association had explained in 2017, albeit Thomas did it with greater thoroughness: “A semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a ‘machinegun’ as defined by §5845(b) because: (1) it cannot fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger’ and (2) even if it could, it would not do so ‘automatically.’ ATF therefore exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a Rule that classifies bump stocks as machineguns.”

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, a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. 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.