Bump stock ruling could trigger boomingrapid-fire marketplace

If the Supreme Court rules that bump stocks aren'tmachine guns later this summer, it could quickly openan unfettered marketplace of newer, more powerful rapid-fire devices.

The Trump administration, in a rare break from gunrights groups, quickly banned bump stocks after the2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert that wasthe deadliest in U.S. history. In the ensuing years, gunrights groups have challenged the underlying rationalethat bump stocks are effectively machine guns, in alegal fight now before the Supreme Court.

Justices appeared divided on the issue during oralarguments in February, and are on the clock to handdown a ruling by June. How they ultimately definemachine guns will have a sweeping impact not only onbumpstocks, but a whole class of similar rapid-firedevices effectively banned in the U.S.