Reactions (and Recoil) to the Bump Stock Ruling

This episode delves into the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn the federal ban on bump stocks, a ruling that has significant implications for gun control laws and administrative agency powers.

1. The Supreme Court's decision focuses on agency power and legal definitions rather than direct gun rights issues.
2. Bump stocks, which increase firing rates of semi-automatic weapons, were a focal point due to their previous use in the Las Vegas shooting.
3. Justice Clarence Thomas' opinion emphasizes that the definition of machine guns does not cover bump stocks under existing laws.
4. The decision has prompted a varied response, from legal vindication for creators and sellers to dismay and fear among mass shooting survivors.
5. The ruling shifts the responsibility for any potential bump stock ban back to Congress, highlighting the political complexities of gun control legislation.

1: Supreme Court Ruling Overview

The episode begins with an exploration of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the bump stock ban, focusing on the legal and technical aspects of the ruling. Brad Milke: "A Supreme Court ruling sends shockwaves through the gun control movement."

2: Impact and Reactions

Discussion on the immediate reactions from various groups, including gun rights advocates and mass shooting survivors, reflecting the polarized views on gun control. Devin Dwyer: "This was as much about agency power and deference of federal agencies as it was about gun rights."

3: Broader Implications

The broader implications of the ruling on federal agency powers and future legislative actions are analyzed. Devin Dwyer: "The ball is now in Congress's court. Congress needs to do something."

1. Stay informed about gun control legislation and understand the specific legal terms and implications.
2. Engage in community discussions and educational sessions on the impact of legal decisions on public safety.
3. Contact representatives to express opinions on gun control laws and the importance of clear legislative definitions.
4. Participate in or organize public forums or debates to discuss the implications of such rulings.
5. Support or volunteer for organizations working towards sensible gun control measures.

The Supreme Court overturns a federal ban on the rifle accessories known as “bump stocks.” Israel announces it will temporarily curb attacks on southern Gaza during daytime hours. And a “heat dome” is about to envelop much of the country, creating historic temperatures across several states.

People

Brad Milke, Devin Dwyer, Jeremiah Cottle

Content Warnings:

None

Brad Milke
It's Monday, June 17. This wasn't a bump. This was a jolt to the system. We start here.

A Supreme Court ruling sends shockwaves through the gun control movement.

Unknown
This is common sense to keep our.

Brad Milke
Community safe, we'll break down the decision that will bring back the bump stock. Israel says you'll see less fighting in Gaza during daylight, at least every single.

Unknown
Day, says the IDF, until further notice.

Brad Milke
But the israeli prime minister says, don't look at me. This wasn't my idea. They can't stand the heat. Stay out of the country for a couple weeks.

Samara Theodore
They could actually break a daily record high every single day next week as.

Brad Milke
Historic temperatures stretch from coast to coast. Welcome to the heat dome.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad Milke.

This weekend was a weekend of gun violence. You can't imagine running into a scene where there's flip flops and ice cream cones, children laughing and playing. Just minutes ago in Michigan at a playground where kids can run through sprinklers. Authorities say a man drove up, got out of his car and fired nearly 30 rounds from his semi automatic handgun. He hit nine people from ages four to 78 years old. It breaks your heart for a family that was coming out to enjoy their evening and now their life is forever changed. In Texas, police say an altercation at an event marking Juneteenth escalated into a mass shooting that killed two people and sent several others to hospitals. And in each of these cases, it becomes clear the more ammo that's available to a gunman to quickly fire at a target, the more bloodshed is possible. And this comes in the wake of what happened on Friday when the Supreme Court ruled that it is illegal for federal authorities to ban a device that was used in the most deadly shooting in american history, a device that can effectively allow an AR 15 to fire like a machine gun. Reactions pouring in throughout the weekend. So let's start this week by going over this controversial ruling with ABC senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer, who covers the court. Devin, we're talking about bump stocks here. They've been banned for years. Right? So what was this decision from the court?

Devin Dwyer
Yeah, they've been banned since 2018, Brad. These are non mechanical accessories that attach to the back of a gun. They were created in 2009, and they help a semi automatic weapon shoot bullets a heck of a lot faster. A fully automatic machine gun can shoot up to 950 rounds per minute if you're using a bump stock on a semi automatic weapon. If you're a pro, you can get up to 800 rounds per minute. So pretty comparable. Some have called it a poor man's machine gun.

Brad Milke
You pull the trigger, it fires one time, it recoils, and you pull the trigger again to fire the next one. What my product does is just allows you to do that very quickly.

Devin Dwyer
This case was all about the technicalities and the textual definition of what is a machine gun, because in 1934, Congress banned machine guns. And what Justice Clarence Thomas said in his opinion, joined by all the conservatives last Friday, Brad, was that this doesn't meet the definition of that. And therefore, the ATF, which wrote the regulations classifying bump stocks as machine guns, needs to be struck down. It's illegal.

Unknown
Looking at that definition, I think the question is, why didn't Congress pass that litigation? I mean, that legislation to make this covered more clearly.

Devin Dwyer
Now, the justice didn't say that these devices could not be banned. He just said that this agency couldn't do it. Especially pointing to the fact that in 2009, when these things were first invented and came on the market, the Obama administration's ATF said they could be sold, said they weren't machine guns. So there was a change after the Vegas shooting that the justices pointed to as just how arbitrary in their view this definition was.

Brad Milke
So this isn't the Supreme Court saying, like, second amendment gives you the God given right to have a bump stop. They're saying it's a question of who does the banning right.

Devin Dwyer
This was as much about agency power and deference of federal agencies as it was about gun rights. In fact, the Second Amendment wasn't implicated really at all in the reasoning in this decision. This was very much a definitional, highly technical. The opinion released by Justice Thomas had diagrams and charts showing how triggers are pulled and bullets fly from guns.

Brad Milke
You would agree that the bump stock accelerates the rate of fire? Absolutely.

Why wouldn't you then take the further step of saying it changes the nature of the trigger in doing that?

Devin Dwyer
Because the trigger still has to reset after every single shot. What he said, and Justice Alito, in a concurring opinion, said, was that, listen, if these devices are so unsavory to the public, and they very well may be, there's a good reason, bipartisan support behind banning them.

Brad Milke
We also completely the process to issue.

Unknown
A new regulation banning bump stocks.

Devin Dwyer
Remember, President Trump was the one who ordered this regulation drafted, that that intent may be well intended, but it needs to come from Congress, not from some agency freelancing under a decades old law.

Brad Milke
What was the reaction, I guess, from both sides of the gun debate?

Devin Dwyer
Well, Brett, I spoke exclusively at the beginning of this case with the creator of the bump stock, Jeremiah Cottle. He's an army veteran, was on food stamps at the time he got out of the service. He's a father.

Brad Milke
All right, going hot. Eyes and ears. Ranger's hot.

Devin Dwyer
We created this in his backyard in Texas. We met him on his ranch in Tennessee. He was elated, vindicated, he said, by the Supreme Court's decision. I believe that the justices made a good ruling.

Brad Milke
They, this is a win for the.

Devin Dwyer
American people because he said, this is a device for fun, for recreation. He said that the definition of machine gun doesn't apply to this, and told us in our interview, if this, you know, device should be banned, policymakers want that. He'd be fine with that, but do it the right way.

Jeremiah Cottle
This is a product that I legally purchased, you know, and had it, you know, in the store, and someone else purchased this product and they had it in their home.

And all of a sudden, an agency within the federal government decided they're going to ban this particular product. And I said, this is crazy.

Devin Dwyer
Michael Cargill, the Texas gun shop owner who actually brought this case to the Supreme Court, Brady also elated. He told me that he expects some of these devices back on his shelves very soon, and he was actually calling for gun enthusiasts to stockpile bump stocks for fear that they could be banned in the future. So as these are now going to be rolling back out into production and onto store shelves, we could expect to see a run on these devices. All of this deeply unsettling and disturbing to the victims and survivors of the Las Vegas shooting.

Unknown
This is common sense to keep our community safe. And for the Supreme Court to make a decision otherwise baffles me. It's ludicrous.

Devin Dwyer
And I caught up with a number of them again yesterday who said they were just so emotional when this decision came down because they couldn't fathom the fact that these devices would be back out there.

Unknown
I have to have faith in our Congress. I have to have faith in our president. I have to have faith in our nation that change can happen and we can be states.

Devin Dwyer
But what we've seen almost to a t in every statement in press conference since is that this ball is now in Congress's court. Congress needs to do something. And, you know, the sobering reality for those in favor of tougher gun safety regulations and banning the bump stocks is that the politics just aren't there right now. This is not only a campaign year, but we know our Congress is narrowly divided, and the NRA and its influence and the lobby remains strong. And so there just has been no movement on the legislative front on any of this. And I got to tell you, Brad, the NRA was behind the ATF's ban on this in 2017. They actually supported it. And at the time, there was a lot of head scratching about that. And now some pundits are saying this was a deft play by the NRA to deflect some of that pressure at the time, knowing full well, or predicting at least that this would get struck down by the courts.

Brad Milke
Yeah, really hotly contested. And like you said, we could see this again, but very much in Congress purview right now. Devin Dwyer, thank you so much.

Devin Dwyer
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
Next up on start here, it's a tactical pause, but don't call it a ceasefire. The new development in Gaza after the break.

Tom Sufi Burich
Hi, I'm Alexis Ohanian.

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In my podcast business dad, I hope to open the conversation about working parents a bit. You'll get to hear from a wide range of business dads, from Rainn Wilson and Guy Raz to Todd Carmichael and Shane Battier, to find out how they balance being a dad with a successful career.

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Unknown
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Samara Theodore
We were afraid.

Brad Milke
We were brats, you know?

Unknown
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Brad Milke
I'm not gonna say we were the Beatles or any of this. Well, we didn't fill Shay Stadium, 1985. I think we could have the original.

Unknown
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Brad Milke
Yesterday was the start of Eid al Adha on the muslim calendar, a feast of sacrifice that's often marked by family gatherings and meals. But among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, there are frighteningly few family members able to celebrate anything together. And a feeling that too much has been sacrificed already as this war between Israel and Hamas rages into its 9th month.

This weekend, though, in a surprising development, Israel announced it was temporarily scaling back some of its assaults on southern Gaza. Let's go to ABC's foreign correspondent Tom Sufi Burich, who's in Tel Aviv in Israel. Tom, they're calling this a tactical pause. What does that mean?

Unknown
Yeah, it's not a full ceasefire. Brad I mean, look, basically what the IDF is saying, that a key route, a road going from the only crossing point open, going into southern Gaza at Kerem Shalom in the south of the strip, that road basically about 10 miles heading north, that will be where this limited tactical pause will be put into effect. The IDF says it will be during daylight hours every single day, says the IDF, until further notice. The major caveat here is that the IDF and the israeli government says that the major, that controversial ground invasion into the city of Rafa in southern Gaza will continue.

Brad Milke
And I mean, why now?

Unknown
I guess, Tom, the IDF says that and Kogat, which is basically the israeli authorities operating within the occupied palestinian territories. So Gaza and the West bank, effectively, they say there is a huge amount of humanitarian aid which has been, it's crossed into Gaza, right? The trucks have moved through the crossing point, the aid has been checked by the israeli military and then it is basically sitting there and no one is able to safely distribute that aid at the pace required to get it quickly out to the areas of Gaza most in need. And this really strikes at one of the key problems that people might not understand is that it's not just about how much aid you can get into Gaza, it's how well you can distribute the aid once it is in. And obviously a lot of that comes down to the fighting the war. Aid agencies put the safety of their personnel right at the front. And so, yes, to a large extent, the ability of those aid agencies, mainly the UN, the World Food Programme, being one of the main logistics operators inside Gaza right now. Their ability to do that safely is obviously limited by the continuation of the war, the continuation of the fighting and the risk that that poses to truck drivers and humanitarian aid workers trying to get the aid out to distribution centers and then on to people who are most in need.

Brad Milke
I see. That's interesting because, yeah, we've heard all this consternation that Israel frankly hasn't done enough to get aid in and distributed within Gaza. So now you've got pushback from these international groups, not just within Gaza but from around the world saying you got to do something.

Ordinarily, Tom, I'd be asking more about the prime minister's role in all this, but it sounds like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying he wasn't part of this decision. How is that possible?

Unknown
Well, according to one of his officials, when he initially saw the announcement, he was against it. But then it was clarified to him that the Rafa operation in southern Gaza will continue by the IDF despite this limited pause along this one route now that reflects opposition anger, much clearer opposition from far right coalition members of Netanyahu's government who are firmly opposed to this pause. And the reason is, is they believe that the amount of aid going into Gaza should be restricted because they believe that will limit Hamas. And they allege, without much clear evidence, that a lot of the aid actually goes into the hands of Hamas. And that's why we've seen right wing Israelis actually blocking, physically blocking aid trucks heading towards Gaza, going through the West bank, going through Israel. You've got to remember that the International Criminal Court is alleging that the israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, may have used hunger as a weapon of war. The israeli government, Netanyahu, has ridiculed those charges, called them an absolute outrage, and firmly rejects that and doesn't even recognize the jurisdiction of the court. But interestingly, people might remember a few weeks ago, everyone was talking about the looming threat of famine in northern Gaza. And actually now the World Food Programme is warning about increasingly dire conditions amongst the population in the south of Gaza.

Extreme heat and the lack of food and the lack of healthcare down there, and says young children are particularly at risk to infectious diseases, which normally young children in the US, in Europe, would easily be able to fight because of this deadly cocktail. Many of them are in a critical condition and some of them are dying.

Brad Milke
I see. It's kind of as if Netanyahu's got two audiences here. He's got the right wing of his own country saying, you should not even allow aid into the country, because that somehow emboldens Hamas to even allow civilians to eat in there. And then you've got the rest of the world and the International Criminal court being like, yeah, no, that would be a war crime if you're not letting food in there. And so now this sort of new announcement from the IDF that Netanyahu is kind of distancing himself from Tom Sufi Burge. Fascinating development there in Tel Aviv. Thank you.

Tom Sufi Burich
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Milke
This week, many Americans will come face to face with what's really a historic heat wave. In fact, this heat has already contributed to a wildfire just north of Los Angeles that forced hundreds of people to be evacuated over the weekend. Engine 477, we have multiple reports of a brush fire at this location. That is sound from broadcastify.com, where emergency personnel were heard to be scrambling to contain this blaze that quickly grew to 11,000 acres. CHP's on scene stadium the fires jump the roadway with additional fire on the Gorman off ramp. But whether you live in California or not, you are more likely than not about to be confronted with high, high temperatures. ABC's meteorologist Samara Theodore has been tracking all this. Samara, how widespread are we talking here?

Samara Theodore
Oh, man. A large portion of the country right now. Over the next seven days, we're looking at the potential for 265 million Americans to experience temperatures at 90 degrees or above. That is 82% of the population.

And this is really prolific for a lot of cities, especially in the northeast like Pittsburgh, where they could actually hit or break a daily record high every single day next week, Monday through Friday. Detroit looking at some substantial heat as well. They may not have seen the likes of what's coming as far as the duration of this heat in over 20 years.

Brad Milke
Well, and we've heard this referred to as like a heat dome, right, where, like, high pressure gets. Gets trapped, I guess, and that kind of continues to raise the ground temperature more and more. And it just kind of sits there. It seems like the difference here is just how much of the country's being affected. Right. How do you, like, what sticks out to you about this as a meteorologist?

Samara Theodore
Yeah, you know, it's pretty prolific. It's early in the year. We're coming off of a few things. Last year was the warmest year on record for the globe. Right. We saw those temperatures come in, and then a lot of these cities, including Pittsburgh, like I was just talking about, have seen their warmest spring on record. So I think there's a climatological factor for sure at play here. But also we do experience heat domes in the summer. This is something that does naturally occur. But what's making this so prolific is not only that it's so widespread. For some places, it's very early on to see this type of heat. For other places, it is the cumulative heat factor which also adds this aspect of danger to it.

What happens is, especially the northeast, we're gonna see these temperatures over 90 every day during the week, and then in the afternoon, barely dropping below the upper seventies. And heat has a cumulative factor to it. And, you know, I'll leave you on this heat is the number one weather related killer in the US. So this is a very high profile event, and it's something that people should be aware of going into this work week, and they need to stay extremely hydrated, vigilant.

Brad Milke
I was gonna say the cooling off. It seems like such a big deal here, right? If you don't have that opportunity to cool off, you really gotta create those moments in your day and in your night. All right, Samara, Theodore, really helpful. Thank you.

Samara Theodore
Absolutely.

Brad Milke
Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, you're not always downstage center when that spotlight hits you. One last thing is next.

This episode is brought to you by progressive insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, hello. You call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? You can call the shots on your auto insurance too, with the name year Price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today@progressive.com. to join the over 28 million drivers who trust progressive progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law and one last thing.

Last night marked the 77th Tony Awards. It's known as Broadway's biggest night, but in many ways this was a night celebrating much smaller theater groups.

Devin Dwyer
Expectations.

Brad Milke
You see, in the theater world, there are commercial venues which kind of function similarly to movie studios. They're for profit enterprises funded by big investors. Therefore, they're more likely to bet on big stars and sure things.

Adaptation your jukebox musical of the five nominees for best musical last night and all five nominees for best play, every single one of them was initially developed by a nonprofit theater groups that tend to do original work.

Sufs, the musical about womens fight for the right to vote, moved to Broadway after a run at the public Theater, a non profit in lower Manhattan, Illinois, came from a regional theater in youll never guess it, Chicago. I see the Wasp with her wings outstretched. And the reason this was so remarkable to theater buffs is that this is a perilous moment for a lot of these nonprofit theaters, like a museum or even a magazine, they rely on member subscriptions. People who pay upfront for a seasons worth of entertainment like you put aside four nights in your calendar. You pay for the tickets, even though you've never heard of these plays before, and you just trust they'll be good. Well, as traditional theater audience members grow older, the younger ones replacing them are less likely to shell out up front. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated that trend even more, and last year several prominent theaters like the public, which I mentioned earlier, announced big layoffs. The storied mark taper forum in Los Angeles even shut down production amid a spiraling budget crisis, though it could be back on its feet later this year. All is to say, if Broadway wants a fresh pipeline of inventive theater in this country. It needs these smaller places thriving. These are the labs where little bets pay off big. In fact, just this year, for example, more women were nominated for directing and writing than ever before. Which is why last night, the call to theater goers was urgent. Support local theater if you want it to merrily roll along.

It's nice that, like, at least once a year, everyone's inner theater nerds should get to come out, right? More on all these stories at abc news.com or the ABC News app. I'm Brad Milke. See you tomorrow.

Most spectacular show on earth.