Hinds Today

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith from Mississippi has joined forces with U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis and several other colleagues to file an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. The brief, filed in the case Garland v. Cargill, challenges the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) ban on bump stocks under the National Firearms Act.

According to Hyde-Smith, the ban not only violates the constitutional right to bear arms but also represents a dangerous expansion of federal bureaucrats' power to interpret federal law. She stated, "Biden's Justice Department and ATF have demonstrated again and again that the law, congressional intent, and the Constitution don't matter when it comes to their goal to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners. In this brief, we make the case that these actions are clearly unconstitutional and that the anti-gun administrative state needs to have its wings clipped."

Senator Lummis also expressed her concerns over the ATF's actions, saying, "The ATF's job is to interpret existing laws passed by Congress, not grant itself sweeping authority to confiscate firearms from law-abiding Wyoming gun-owners as is the case with the bump stock ban." She emphasized that the case Garland v. Cargill is a critical moment for gun rights in America and that she will not allow gun grabbers in Washington to change the long-standing tradition of responsible gun ownership in Wyoming.

The case at the center of this debate involves Michael Cargill, who purchased two bump stocks in 2018 but had to surrender them in 2019 after the ATF issued a new rule banning the devices and making possession a felony. Cargill challenged the ban in federal district court in Texas but lost the case. However, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit later reversed the lower court's decision. Following this reversal, the Biden administration requested that the U.S. Supreme Court review the case.

In addition to Senators Hyde-Smith and Lummis, several other senators, including John Barrasso, Mike Lee, Kevin Cramer, Pete Ricketts, Steve Daines, Mike Rounds, and Markwayne Mullin, as well as legal experts in Second Amendment and firearms law, joined in filing the brief.

This amicus curiae brief aims to highlight the unconstitutionality of the ATF ban on bump stocks and the need to prevent federal agencies from overstepping their authority. The outcome of Garland v. Cargill has significant implications for the future of gun rights in the United States, and these senators and legal experts are determined to defend the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.