Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-976_e29g.pdf
Page Number: 21

Cite as:  602 U. S. ____ (2024) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

the pump action on the Model 37.8 
  ATF  responds  that  a shooter  is  less  physically  involved 
with operating a bump-stock equipped rifle than operating 
the Model 37’s pump action.  Once the shooter pulls the ri-
fle’s  trigger  a  single  time,  the  bump  stock  “harnesses  the 
firearm’s recoil energy in a continuous back-and-forth cycle 
that allows the shooter to attain continuous firing.”  Id., at 
66519.  But, even if one aspect of a weapon’s operation could 
be  seen  as  “automatic,”  that  would  not  mean  the  weapon 
“shoots . . . automatically more than one shot . . . by a single 
function of the trigger.”  §5845(b) (emphasis added).  After 
all, many weapons have some “automatic” features.  For ex-
ample, semiautomatic rifles eject the spent cartridge from 
the firearm’s chamber and load a new one in its place with-
out any input from the shooter.  See supra, at 10.  A semi-
automatic rifle is therefore “automatic” in the general sense 
that it performs some operations that would otherwise need 
to be completed by hand.  But, as all agree, a semiautomatic 
rifle cannot fire more than one shot “automatically . . . by a 
single function of the trigger” because the shooter must do 
more than simply engage the trigger one time.  The same is 
true of a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock. 
  Thus, even if a semiautomatic rifle could fire more than 
one shot by a single function of the trigger, it would not do 
so “automatically.” 

C 
  Abandoning  the  text,  ATF  and  the  dissent  attempt  to 
shore  up  their  position  by  relying  on  the  presumption 
—————— 

8

 The dissent attempts to undermine this analogy by pointing out that 
a Model 37 requires manual reloading and therefore cannot qualify as a 
machinegun under §5845(b).  Post, at 12–13, n. 5.  But, that is beside the 
point.  As ATF itself agrees, the Model 37 is not a machinegun for an-
other, independent reason: It cannot “automatically” fire more than one 
shot by a single function of the trigger.  See Brief for Petitioners 38.  And, 
as explained, the reasons why a Model 37 cannot do so apply with equal 
force to semiautomatic rifles equipped with bump stocks.