US Supreme Court will not hear challenge to bump stock ban News
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US Supreme Court will not hear challenge to bump stock ban

The US Supreme Court Monday denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in McCutchen v. United States, a challenge to the federal ban on gun bump stocks. Promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the ban prevents anyone from possessing bump-stock-type devices, including slide-fire devices, and encourages possessors to either destroy or turn in their devices.

The rule places bump stock weapons into the category of machine guns due to the devices’ “continuous firing cycle.” The ban went into effect in March 2019 and was enacted after a gunman killed 58 people in Las Vegas in 2017, utilizing semi-automatic bump stock devices.

Roy McCutchen and Paducah Shooter’s Supply claim the ban is a taking under the 5th Amendment and seek compensation for the bump-stocks they disposed of. The Federal Claims Court dismissed the case, saying that ATF’s rule was a proper use of police power and not a taking. The Federal Circuit affirmed the lower court’s dismissal, resulting in the petition to the Supreme Court. The court denied the petition this morning without comment. This is the second time the Supreme Court has declined to hear arguments on the bump stock ban.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.