Michael Cargill, a gun rights activist, is urging a federal appeals court to block a Trump administration rule banning bump stocks, reports Reuters. Bump stocks are gun accessories that allow semi-automatic guns to fire many times in rapid succession. Cargill is asking the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reverse the ban, which took effect in March 2019. Cargill says a shooter using a bump stock must also push forward on the gun's barrel and pull back on the trigger. To Cargill, and other plaintiffs, that means the weapon no longer is considered semi-automatic. The ban was issued by former President Trump after a gunman killed 58 people during a country music festival in Las Vegas.
The policy has been challenged by multiple lawsuits. Challengers reason that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives improperly classified guns with bump stocks as machine guns, which are almost entirely banned under federal law. Three federal appellate courts have upheld the ban, although the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was split, 8-8, one vote short of the majority needed to overturn the law. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice rebuffed petitions to review the issue.