Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Ban on Gun 'Bump Stocks' A bump-stock device that fits on a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing speed, making it similar to a fully automatic rifle, is installed on a AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, at a gun store on Oct. 5, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (George Frey/Getty Images)
By Charlie McCarthy | Monday, 03 October 2022 10:37 AM EDT
The Supreme Court announced Monday it will not hear a case that challenged the Trump-era regulation classifying "bump stocks" as machine guns.
The court began its new term by releasing its order list of cases. W. Clark Aposhian v. Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General, et al. was among the "certiorari denied" cases. The high court also rejected a separate challenge pressed by people and groups led by Gun Owners of America.
The justices made no comments in declining to hear the cases that were among many the court rejected.
Bump stocks are devices attached to semiautomatic firearms so that a shooter can fire multiple rounds more rapidly.
The Trump administration banned bump stocks in 2019 after a sniper in Las Vegas used the devices with weapons in the massacre of dozens of concert goers in 2017.
The move was an about-face for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2010, under the Obama administration, the agency found that bump stocks should not be classified as a "machine gun" and therefore should not be banned under federal law.
The justices' decision Monday not to hear the cases comes on the heels of a decision in June in which the justices by a 6-3 vote expanded gun-possession rights, weakening states' ability to limit the carrying of guns in public.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.