By Tanya Metaksa
What’s New—Legislative Aftermath of Garland v. Cargill; Arizona: The legislature has adjourned; Delaware: The Senate passed HB311, banning guns on college campuses. It now goes to Governor Carney; Louisiana: Governor Jeff Landry has kept his campaign promises. During the last weeks of June, he signed Senate Bill 234, Senate Bill 301, and House Bill 819, pro-Second Amendment legislation.
Legislative Aftermath of Garland v. Cargill
To understand the Garland v. Cargill bump stock case, one must understand the background concerning machine gun law, bump stocks, and ATF regulations. In essence, Justice Thomas’ opinion goes into extensive technical detail on how AR-15 rifles function and exactly how adding a bump stock to such a rifle changes it. As Second Amendment attorney Stephen Halbrook writes in his article, “Bump Stocks are not Machineguns,” on Reason.com, the issue of the ATF regulation is settled once, and a semiautomatic is not a machinegun. The Cargill opinion states, “A bump stock does not convert a semiautomatic rifle into a machinegun any more than a shooter with a lightning-fast trigger finger does.” Halbrook goes on to explain why Senator Feinstein’s 2017 bill, S. 1916, was not only vague but also “proposed bills [that] would have criminalized millions of citizens who possessed ordinary semiautomatic rifles.”
However, we have already witnessed the first of many Congressional legislative attempts to ban bump stocks post-Cargill. Additionally, on the day Cargill was announced, the Biden White House publicly urged Congress to pass a federal ban on bump stocks for semiautomatic rifles. Then, on June 25, Senator Schumer tried to schedule a vote on S. 1909 that would ban:
“a semiautomatic firearm that has been modified in any way that
(i) materially increases the rate of fire of the firearm;
Or (ii) approximates the action or rate of fire of a machinegun.”
Notice that S.1909 is not a bump stock ban; it is a ban on any modifications that increase the rate of fire of any semiautomatic firearm.
Unfortunately, laws are in effect to ban bump stock in the following fifteen states: CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, HI, MA, MN, MD, NJ, NV, NY, RI, VT, and WA. And now, we are seeing more states propose such legislation; for example, on June 26, mlive.com published an article titled, “Ban on rapid-fire rifle bump stocks proposed in Michigan.” On that same day, Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D) said he believes that Democrats in the Virginia legislation will propose a ban on bump stocks during the 2025 legislative session. In legislatures in the states that are still in session and have not passed so-called bump stock bans, gun owners need to remain vigilant for any proposals.
Many gun owners modify their firearms for a variety of legal reasons, which includes modifying stocks, actions, and triggers. What bills such as S. 1909 and Feinstein’s bill from 2017 are attempting to accomplish is to make any firearms modifications illegal, especially modifying the rate of fire, as well as banning bump stocks.
Bump stocks will be used as a highly emotional trigger for all the anti-Second Amendment lobbies. Gun owners should expect a big push in the next legislative session at both the state and federal levels.
State Legislation and local communities
States that do NOT hold legislative sessions in 2024: Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas,
States that are still in session: California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio (special session), Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island
Arizona: The legislature has adjourned.
California: The Senate Public Safety Committee held a hearing on two more anti-gun bills that have already passed the Assembly. AB1252 officially makes AG Bonta’s Office of Gun Violence Protection part of the CA DOJ and creates a state-supported Commission to End Gun Violence. AB2917 expands the criteria for implementing the Gun Violence Protective Order to consider any threats directed toward any group or location.
Delaware: The Senate passed HB311, banning guns on college campuses. It now goes to Governor Carney.
Louisiana: Governor Jeff Landry has kept his campaign promises. During the last weeks of June, he signed Senate Bill 234, Senate Bill 301, and House Bill 819, pro-Second Amendment legislation.
