Sixth Circuit holds ATF Bumpstock ban unconstitutional.

On April 25, 2023, a three judge appellate panel in the Sixth Circuit court of appeals released its opinion in Scott Hardin v. ATF – No: 20-6380 (6th Cir. April 25, 2023) in which the Court held that the ATF’s regulatory reclassification of a bumpstock (pursuant to then President Donald Trump’s direction) is unconstitutional.

The Court rejected the application of the “Chevron” doctrine which many other courts have used to rule in ATF’s favor without making a genuine analysis of the constitutional question of whether the ATF had the authority, as an administrative agency, to alter or expand a statutory definition. The Court described the issue and its holding as follows:

“The placement of a bump stock on a semiautomatic rifle causes the rifle to function essentially like a machinegun by dramatically increasing the rate of fire. And the possession of a machinegun is a criminal offense under the Gun Control Act of 1968. This raises the question of whether a bump stock is a machinegun “part” as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934. The question is a close one on which reasonable jurists have disagreed, a disagreement caused by ambiguities in how the applicable statute defines the term “machinegun.”

An Act of Congress could clear up the ambiguities, but so far Congress has failed to act. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (the ATF) has been on both sides of this issue, with its current regulation (the Rule) banning bump stocks as a machinegun part. In this situation, the rule of lenity that is applicable to criminal offenses requires us to rule in favor of Hardin. We therefore REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND for
further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Tennessee is within the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction. Unless reversed, this opinion should prohibit the ATF from enforcing the bumpstock ban in Tennessee.

The opinion also gives hope that at least the Sixth Circuit might enter a similar ruling with respect to the ATF’s rulings on force reset triggers and firearms with pistol braces.