Attorney General Ken Paxton joined an amicus brief co-led by Montana and West Virginia calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Gun Owners of America v. Garland, which upheld the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Final Rule on bump stocks. Bump stocks are accessories that allow most semi-automatic firearms to shoot more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger.  

ATF’s Final Rule would transform lawful semi-automatic firearms into banned machine guns, when the accessory is added, and would require bump stock owners to surrender or destroy their bump stocks or risk criminal liability. The brief also urges the Supreme Court to affirm the bedrock legal principle that a federal agency cannot, through the administrative “interpretation” of law, criminalize conduct that will send people to prison. Federal criminal laws must be enacted democratically, with the approval of both Houses of Congress and the President. 

To read the brief click here.