Gun activist will urge appeals court to block 'bump stock' ban

(Reuters) - A gun rights activist will urge a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block a Trump administration rule banning bump stocks, gun accessories that allow semi-automatic guns to fire many times in rapid succession.

Michael Cargill is asking the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reverse a decision by a panel of three of its judges upholding the ban, which took effect March 2019.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which passed the ban, and a lawyer for Cargill did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Though gun restrictions have historically been championed by Democrats, the ban was issued by the administration of then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, after a gunman using bump stocks killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas. It represented a rare recent instance of gun control at the federal level in a country that has experienced a series of mass shootings.

The policy has been challenged in multiple lawsuits. Cargill, like other plaintiffs, argues that the ATF improperly classified guns equipped with bump stocks as machine guns, which are almost entirely banned under federal law, in order to pass the rule.

Cargill argues that ATF lacked the authority to reinterpret the statute. He said that even if it did have the authority, its interpretation would be wrong because a shooter using a bump must simultaneously push forward on a gun's barrel and pull back on its trigger in order to fire rapidly, rather than simply holding the trigger.

The government has maintained that the agency is entitled to deference in interpreting federal law under the Supreme Court's landmark 1984 ruling in Chevron USA Inc v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc.

So far, federal courts including the 5th, 6th and D.C. Circuits have upheld the ban, though the full 6th Circuit in December split 8-8, one vote short of the majority needed to overturn it. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice rebuffed petitions to review it.

However, the 5th Circuit's decision to hear the case with a full court suggests it may be open to overturning the ban.

The case is Cargill v. Garland, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 20-51016.

For Cargill: Richard Samp of the New Civil Liberties Alliance

For the government: Mark Stern of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division

Read more:

ATF beats back gun rights groups challenge to bump-stock ban

U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to ban on gun 'bump stocks'

U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bid to block Trump's gun 'bump stock' ban

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