President Joe Biden denounced the Supreme Court's decision on Friday to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks and called on Congress to take action.
"Today's decision strikes down an important gun safety regulation," Biden said in a statement. "Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation."
In a 6-3 ruling, the justices upheld a lower court's decision that sided with Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner from Austin, Texas, who challenged the ban on bump stocks. The devices enable semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly like machine guns.
The court's liberal minority dissented from the decision.
Biden pointed to the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, saying the bump stock on the shooter's gun allowed him to fire more than 1,000 bullets in 10 minutes, killing 60 people and wounding hundreds more.
"While extreme congressional Republicans want to defund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), I have used every tool in my Administration to stamp out gun violence," he said. "I nominated the first Senate-confirmed Director of the ATF since 2015. My Administration ensured that the ATF has the funding it needs to address emerging firearm technologies like machinegun conversion devices and ghost guns that pose a unique and acute threat to public safety."
The president highlighted his signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, as well as "investments in mental health" and "expanded background checks." But more needs to be done, he said.
"We know thoughts and prayers are not enough," Biden said. "I call on Congress to ban bump stocks, pass an assault weapon ban, and take additional action to save lives — send me a bill and I will sign it immediately."
Writing the majority opinion for the Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas said, "A semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock does not fire more than one shot 'by a single function of the trigger.' "
"With or without a bump stock, a shooter must release and reset the trigger between every shot," the justice wrote.
The bump stock ban was enacted by the Trump administration in 2017 in the wake of the Las Vegas concert shooting.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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