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4 

GARLAND v. CARGILL 

Opinion of the Court 

fired on a crowd attending an outdoor music festival in Las 
Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding over 500 more.  The 
gunman equipped his weapons with bump stocks, which al-
lowed him to fire hundreds of rounds in a matter of minutes. 
  This  tragedy  created  tremendous  political  pressure  to 
outlaw bump stocks nationwide.  Within days, Members of 
Congress proposed bills to ban bump stocks and other de-
vices “designed . . . to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiau-
tomatic rifle.”  S. 1916, 115th Cong., 1st Sess., §2 (2017); see 
also H. R. 3947, 115th Cong., 1st Sess. (2017); H. R. 3999, 
115th Cong., 1st Sess. (2017).  None of these bills became 
law.  Similar proposals in the intervening years have also 
stalled.  See, e.g., H. R. 396, 118th Cong., 1st Sess. (2023); 
S. 1909,  118th  Cong.,  1st  Sess.  (2023);  H. R.  5427,  117th 
Cong., 1st Sess. (2021). 
  While the first wave of bills was pending, ATF began con-
sidering whether to reinterpret §5845(b)’s definition of “ma-
chinegun” to include bump stocks.  It proposed a rule that 
would amend its regulations to “clarify” that bump stocks 
are machineguns.  83 Fed. Reg. 13442 (2018).  ATF’s about-
face  drew  criticism  from  some  observers,  including  those 
who  agreed that  bump stocks should  be banned.   Senator 
Dianne  Feinstein,  for  example,  warned  that  ATF  lacked 
statutory  authority  to  prohibit  bump  stocks,  explaining 
that the proposed regulation “ ‘hinge[d] on a dubious analy-
sis’ ”  and  that  the  “ ‘gun  lobby  and  manufacturers  [would] 
have a field day with [ATF’s] reasoning’ ” in court.  State-
ment on Regulation To Ban Bump Stocks (Mar. 23, 2018).  
She asserted that “ ‘legislation is the only way to ban bump 
stocks.’ ”  Ibid. 
  ATF  issued  its  final  Rule  in 2018.   83  Fed.  Reg.  66514.  
The agency’s earlier regulations simply restated §5845(b)’s 
statutory definition.  Ibid.  The final Rule amended those 
regulations by adding the following language: