Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-976_e29g.pdf
Page Number: 36

12 

GARLAND v. CARGILL 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

choose to fire single shots with distinct pulls of the trigger, 
or  continuous  shots  by  maintaining  constant  backward 
pressure on the trigger.  See supra, at 3.  An M16 user can 
toggle the weapon from semiautomatic mode, which allows 
only  one  shot  per  pull  of  the  trigger,  to  automatic  mode, 
which enables continuous fire.  See M16 Field Manual, Sec-
tion III, p. 4-8.  In 1934 as now, there is no commonsense 
difference  between  a  firearm  where  a  shooter  must  hold 
down a trigger or flip a switch to initiate rapid fire and one 
where a shooter must push on the front grip or barrel to do 
the same. 
  The  majority’s logic  simply  does  not  overcome  the  over-
whelming  textual  and  contextual  evidence  that  “single 
function of the trigger” means a single action by the shooter 
to initiate a firing sequence, including pulling a trigger and 
pushing forward on a bump-stock-equipped semiautomatic 
rifle. 

B 
  Next, consider what makes a machinegun “automatic.”  A 
is  a  “ma-
bump-stock-equipped  semiautomatic  rifle 
chinegun” because with a “single function of the trigger” it 
“shoot[s], automatically more than one shot, without man-
ual reloading.”  §5845(b).  Put simply, the bump stock auto-
mates the process of firing more than one shot. 
  Before automatic weapons, a person who wanted to fire 
multiple  shots  from  a  firearm  had  to  do  two  things  after 
pulling the trigger  the first time:  (1)  he  had to  reload  the 
gun; and (2) he had to pull the trigger again.  A semiauto-
matic  weapon  like  an  AR–15  already  automates  the  first 
process.  The bump stock automates the second.5  In a fully 

—————— 

5 The  majority  attempts  to  analogize  a  bump  stock  to  the  Model  37 
shotgun, which allows the user to “fire multiple shots by holding down 
the trigger while operating the shotgun’s pump action.”  Ante, at 16.  The 
Model 37 automates the second process (i.e., pulling the trigger for each 
shot), as long as the shooter maintains pressure on the trigger.  Unlike a