Supreme Court again rejects challenge to ‘bump stock’ ban

The Supreme Court on Monday once again declined to hear a challenge to the federal ban on “bump stock” devices that modify semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly.

The court’s move leaves intact a Trump-era measure enacted in 2017 after a gunman in Las Vegas used the rapid-fire accessory to carry out the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.

The court’s refusal to take up the appeal dealt a blow to the challengers, a group that acquired bump stocks when they were legal. The petitioners argued that the government ban effectively deprived them of property without fair compensation, in violation of constitutional protections.

The court’s denial of the petition comes after the justices declined to take up similar efforts to overturn the bump stock prohibition last month and in 2020.

The Trump-era ban was put in place by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after gunman Stephen Paddock used the device to kill 58 people and wound hundreds during a Las Vegas concert, before killing himself.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court last term handed gun rights advocates a landmark victory, ruling 6-3 that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a gun outside the home for self-defense.