Columbus, OH – On Tuesday, The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Garland v. Cargill with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that courts must interpret criminal statutes narrowly, with leniency towards the accused. Known as the rule of lenity, this strict level of review protects Americans from criminal punishment that Congress did not specify.   

“With the stroke of a pen, unelected federal bureaucrats at the ATF turned more than 500,000 Americans into criminals. Something only Congress has the authority to do,” said David Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “And it isn’t just the ATF. Bureaucrats across the federal government have created nearly 300,000 criminal offenses without Congressional approval, and this case gives the high court the opportunity to end this abuse of the regulatory process.” 

For nearly 10 years, federal officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told Americans that a bump stock did not convert a firearm into a machine gun. In 2017, unelected government regulators told the American people they changed their mind, and a bump stock does convert a firearm into a machine gun and banned bump stocks under the National Firearms Act. The penalty for possessing a bump stock—which more than 500,000 Americans owned—was 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. No Congressional approval was sought for threatening to turn more than half a million Americans into criminals.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance represents Michael Cargill, an Army veteran, Texas gun shop owner, and firearms instructor, in Garland v. Cargill.

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UPDATE: On June 14, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the “ATF exceeded its statutory authority by issuing a Rule that classifies a bump stock as a ‘machinegun.’”