With the bump stock ban set to take effect next week the court has placed a temporary hold on it while a determination is made in the case of W. Clark Aposhian.
The lawsuit, filed in January in a Salt Lake City U.S. District Court, challenges the proper role of administrative agencies– such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives– and whether their regulations on the bump stock may contradict a law passed by Congress, specifically the definition of a “machine gun” as set by lawmakers in 1934 and 1968. The case argues that ATF essentially rewrote the definition as set out by previous laws, something that was not in the agency’s power to do. – Guns.com
The result of the ATF inclusion of bump stocks as machine guns essentially, at President Trump’s behest, expanding the definitions provided by the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act without the laws being amended by congress is allowing a federal agency the license to rewrite a law once passed.
While U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish, a 2015 appointment by President Obama, turned away Aposhian’s request for an injunction on Wednesday, saying his case has “not shown a likelihood of success,” NCLA filed an emergency request to the 10th Circuit who granted the injunction. Both sides have until March 29 to file a further response with the court.
“The Court’s decision to stay the bump stock rule is an important recognition of the high stakes in this case,” noted NCLA. “While the order is limited, the Court recognizes that Mr. Aposhian has raised a substantial basis to question the rule’s validity.”
