There is much to be said for the spectacle of seeing an overbearing federal agency with egg on its face having to backtrack from yet another bureaucratic overreach.

That is the sight enjoyed by Second Amendment advocates who get to watch the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) sheepishly return bump stocks to their rightful owners. 

The ATF was forced into action by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Garland v. Cargill that these non-mechanical and usually plastic devices are not in fact “machine guns” as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934. The agency informed one of the plaintiffs, Florida Carry, Inc., that they would receive their property back.

The ATF letter to Florida Carry’s general counsel, Eric Friday, explained, “You are hereby notified that the (ATF) is currently in possession of the bump stocks described above in which you may have an interest.”

Interestingly, bump stock owners are given only a 90-day window to ask for the return of their property. This arbitrary demand struck Florida Carry co-founder and co-executive director Sean Caranna as arbitrary and unnecessary.

“Rather than simply returning people’s property, the ATF has established a bureaucratic and paperwork burden on law-abiding Americans in an attempt to run out the 90-day clock that the ATF has created without any statutory authority,” Caranna noted.

He added that the stipulation demonstrated that the controversial agency has not sufficiently learned that it cannot simply conjure up new regulations without congressional authority.

The Florida group is far from the only gun rights advocate that will experience the satisfaction of having their lawful property returned to them.

Utah resident Clark Aposhian is described as the last legal owner of a bump stock, having turned his possession over to the ATF under protest. He voluntarily surrendered the firearm accessory, stipulating that it would be returned if he won his court case against the agency.

This device became known as the “last legal” bump stock, since all others were ordered to be destroyed or turned over to the ATF.

The Supreme Court decision prompted a federal district judge to order that the bump stock be returned to Aposhian. He declared his intention to get his property back from the ATF’s Salt Lake City office this month.

Aposhian’s litigation was brought by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA). Attorneys successfully argued that the ATF may not legally make up laws and rules without congressional authority. The Constitution clearly stipulates this separation of power, but until recently, it was widely ignored.

But now the high court has tossed the contentious Chevron defense aside, returning the balance of power in Washington to the intent of the Founding Fathers. All federal agencies, and the ATF in particular, are now on notice that nameless and unelected bureaucrats may not legislate away from voter oversight.

NCLA president Mark Chenoweth celebrated Aposhian’s victory and the return of his property. He declared that the lesson learned is that “only our elected officials may write criminal laws.” His client’s case demonstrated to the high court the imbalance of power that resulted from agencies such as the ATF assuming legislative authority for themselves.

Chenoweth added, “But the main takeaway from Mr. Aposhian’s willingness to take a stand for his civil liberties is that bureaucrats at the ATF and other federal agencies are not empowered to write or reinterpret rules that take away more freedom. That’s why this is a glorious victory for all liberty-loving people.”

Despite the overturn of the federal ban, more than a dozen states still prohibit bump stocks. Surprisingly, one of them is Florida. As it began returning bump stocks to their owners, the ATF warned that their possession is still subject to state and local laws.

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