The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday upheld the federal bump stock ban that took effect in 2019, approving the legal contortions required to justify it. In blessing the Trump administration’s redefinition of machine guns to include bump stocks and firearms equipped with them, the appeals court did not merely defer to […]
Three years ago, a federal ban on “bump-stock-type devices” took effect, transforming otherwise law-abiding owners of such firearm accessories into felons overnight. Despite its severe and startling consequences, that ban was never approved by Congress. It was unilaterally imposed by the Trump administration, which expanded the statutory definition of “machinegun” to include bump stocks and […]
For a president of the United States, seeing policy initiatives thwarted by congressional resistance and divided opinion must be a lot of things, frustrating chief among them. But not getting your way because people won’t get with the program is not an emergency. Unfortunately, we live at a moment when many Americans have lost patience […]