Supreme Court strikes down on gun 'bump stocks'

We're coming on the air with some breaking news from the Supreme Court that could impact gun laws nationwide. The High Court has just ruled on a ban on so-called bump stock devices. Those are those those gadgets that attach to semi automatic firearms and allow them to fire faster without more pulls on the trigger. The ban, as you might recall, was imposed by the Trump administration after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. When you to use firearms equipped with those bump stocks to kill 58 people and injure 500 more at an outdoor concert. At issue in this case was whether using a bump stock accessory actually converts the weapon into a machine gun. Machine guns are weapons with strict regulations throughout this country. There's a lot to unpack right now. Let's bring in our senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett to walk us through the decision. Our chief White House correspondent, Peter Alexander also with us to talk about potential political implications here at the heart of this case, essentially the mechanism of the bump stock itself and potential implications for owners as well. This is a six, three decision. Yeah, It's split along ideological lines, familiar ideological lines. Justice Thomas writing for the majority of the conservative court here. It's an interesting rule here. This was the Biden administration, the Biden Justice Department, defending a rule that had been done under the Trumpet administration, as you mentioned, in the wake of the Vegas shooting, the most deadly mass shooting still in the modern history. And essentially because the bump stock, the accessory that makes it easier to fire, doesn't meet the definition of a machine gun, it means they exceeded their authority. Now. It doesn't mean Congress couldn't come along and pass a different federal law, but it's not for the ATF, the alcohol, tobacco and firearms to do by itself, and therefore the rule will be thrown out and so Gunya users will be able to use bump stocks from now on. The oral arguments that the justices did seem to be a bit divided over the contraption itself. There's there seemed to be some confusion over the bump stop, how it worked and whether it constituted our understanding of a machine gun. Yeah. And clearly, Justice Thomas thought it did not meet that definition. We're still going to work our way through the dissent. There was a lot of question about the actual mechanism during oral argument, and they were clearly deeply divided on it. It went through the lower court process. Obviously, the lower court thought that it exceeded its definition. And so the Supreme Court is essentially affirming that low court ruling out not disturbing the status quo, which had already put the rule under the Trump administration on hold. Now, we should mention this is not the only decision on guns from the High Court. They still have more left to say here as it relates to whether someone who has a protection order, essentially a restraining order for domestic violence can own a firearm. But this is another big decision from the High Court after a monumental decision just two years ago saying that people could arm themselves in public. So this is another time where the court is now weighing in on on such an important hot button issue for the day. I'll just say very quickly, this is going to be another sort of point of distinction that the Biden campaign is going to try to capitalize on. We expect to hear from them a short time from now. Reproductive rights, obviously being another example of this. President Biden, who just this week spoke to a big gun, a group that is pursuing gun restrictions right now, has made the case that if he is re elected, he's going to try to pursue an assault weapons ban. And Donald Trump, for his part, has said in recent months that he would rollback any Biden attacks on the Second Amendment if re elected. All right, Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander, senior legal correspondent, Laura, Jared, a big thanks to both of you. Again, breaking news right now from the Supreme Court, the ATF cannot regulate so-called bump stocks. That's going to conclude this NBC News special report. More on our streaming network NBC News now. And of course the full wrap up tonight on NBC Nightly News. For now, return most of you to the Today show. I'm Craig Melvin, thank you for watching.