DOJ’s Bump Stock Appeal Could Have Much Broader Implications

If the US Supreme Court upholds a federal appeals court ruling that the ATF lacks the authority to regulate “nonmechanical” bump stocks, that decision could have broad consequences for other federal agencies charged with regulatory enforcement.

The US Justice Department is asking the justices to overturn the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s January decision that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives doesn’t have that specific regulatory authority because it’s not clearly spelled out by statute.

A majority of the en banc panel, agreeing to assume the statute’s ambiguity, invoked the rule of lenity, rather than ...