Supreme Court strikes down a Trump-era ban on rapid-fire rifle bump stocks: AP explains

The Supreme Court has struck down a ban on bump stocks. Those are rapid fire gun accessories that were used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, which happened in Las Vegas in 2017. A gunman used assault rifles equipped with bump stocks when he opened fire on a crowd of thousands at a country music festival in Las Vegas, leaving 60 people dead and hundreds were injured multiple casualties. The Supreme Court's conservative majority found that the Justice Department under President Trump had overstepped its authority when it classified bump stocks as illegal machine guns. The High Court found that bump stocks don't qualify as machine guns because each pull of the trigger trigger still discharges only one round, even if those rounds are coming very quickly. The court split along ideological lines in the ruling, with the three liberal justices dissenting. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote for the liberals, said that this ruling could hamstring the federal government as it considers future gun restrictions. The ruling thrust guns back into the center of the political conversation during an election year, with former President Trump saying he respected the court's decision and quickly pivoting to his endorsement by the NRA. President Biden, on the other hand, decried the ruling and urged Congress to act on bump stocks. This isn't the only gun case on the Supreme Court's docket this year. They're also expected to issue an opinion in the coming weeks on whether people who are subject to domestic violence Protection Orders should have access to guns.