Every so often, a Supreme Court oral argument is so divorced from reality that even a seasoned court-watcher like myself finds it jaw-dropping. The court’s consideration of whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was right to define guns equipped with bump stocks as machine guns was exactly that shocking.

The justices spent almost the entire time debating the technical workings of bump stocks and the meaning of the words “function” and “trigger” in the federal law that bans machine guns. No one, justice or lawyer, bothered to mention the real-world consequence of permitting bump stocks: they let mass shooters turn their semiautomatic assault rifles into effectively automatic weapons that fire up to 800 rounds a minute.

QOSHE - On Bump Stocks, the Supreme Court Is Divorced From Reality - Noah Feldman
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On Bump Stocks, the Supreme Court Is Divorced From Reality

16 1
02.03.2024

Every so often, a Supreme Court oral argument is so divorced from reality that even a seasoned court-watcher like myself finds it jaw-dropping. The court’s consideration of whether the Bureau of........

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