Sessions announces proposed rulemaking to define machine guns to include bump stocks

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced a proposed rulemaking from the Department of Justice that would clarify that bump stocks fall within the definition of “machinegun” under federal law.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would amend the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to clarify that the term “machinegun” as used in the National Firearms Act (NFA) and Gun Control Act (GCA). The amended definition would include “all bump-stock-type devices that harness recoil energy to facilitate the continuous operation of a semiautomatic long gun after a single pull of the trigger.”

If the NPRM becomes final, bump-stock-type devices would effectively be banned under federal law and those that currently possess bump-stock-type devices would have to surrender, destroy or otherwise render the devices permanently inoperable.

The NPRM will be available for public comment for 90 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

“Since the day he took office, President Trump has had no higher priority than the safety of each and every American,” Sessions said. “That is why today the Department of Justice is publishing for public comment a proposed rulemaking that would define ‘machinegun’ to include bump stock-type devices under federal law—effectively banning them.”

President Trump issued a memorandum on Feb. 20 instructing Sessions “to dedicate all available resources to… propose for notice and comment a rule banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machineguns.”