The US Supreme Court has recently reversed a ban on certain gun accessories that were prohibited in 2019, ruling that the Trump administration had acted illegally. The decision, with 6 votes in favor and 3 against, overturned the ban on “multi-talking” that was put in place by the former president’s administration. This ruling came after a lawsuit filed by Michael Cargill, a Texas firearms store owner, who accused federal agencies of misinterpreting the machine gun ban and imposing unnecessary restrictions on gun accessories.
The lawsuit argued that the machine gun stock, which is an accessory that helps semi-automatic rifles achieve a higher rate of fire, does not actually turn the rifle into a machine gun as claimed by the government. The Supreme Court agreed with this argument and ruled that a semi-automatic rifle fitted with a machine gun stock does not fire more than one shot per trigger pull and therefore should not be classified as a machine gun.
President Joe Biden’s administration defended the ban in the lawsuit, stating that military weapons have no place in American streets. However, critics argue that this decision will make it easier for people to obtain dangerous weapons and infringe on public safety. The ban was initially imposed in 2019 after the tragic shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, where the shooter used a modified gun with a machine gun stock to carry out the attack.
The machine gun stock allows semi-automatic rifles to fire an entire magazine with just one pull of the trigger. While it technically does not convert the gun into a machine gun as claimed by some, it is still considered dangerous by many who fear its high rate of fire could cause harm if misused or used maliciously. Despite its legal classification as a semi-automatic weapon under US law, there are concerns about its potential impact on public safety and calls for further regulation or bans on certain types of weapons.
