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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Opinionpalooza: SCOTUS Says Yes to Bump Stocks, No to Gun Safety Regulation

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Slate Podcasts

News Commentary, Politics, Government, News

4.63.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A bump stock is an attachment that converts a semi automatic rifle into a weapon that can fire as many as 800 rounds per minute - an intensity of gunfire matched by machine guns. The deadliest mass shooting carried out by a single shooter in US history - the October 2017 Las Vegas massacre - was enabled by a bump stock. On Friday, the US Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era bump stock ban introduced in the wake of that tragedy, in which 60 people were killed and hundreds more injured. Writing for a perfectly partisan six to three majority, gun enthusiast and ultra conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, decided the administration had overstepped its authority enacting the ban, and based the decision in a very technical, very weird reading of the statute. On this Opinionpalooza edition of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s senior writer on the courts and the law - Mark Stern, and David Pucino, Legal Director & Deputy Chief Counsel of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Together, they discuss the careful reasoning and research behind the ban, Justice Thomas’ self-appointment as a bigger gun expert than the agency charged with regulating guns - the ATF, how the gun industry used its own “amicus flotilla” from extreme groups to undermine the agency, and how the industry will use this roadmap again. But, please don’t despair entirely, you’ll also hear from David about hope for the future of gun safety rules. This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We kicked things off this year by explaining How Originalism Ate the Law. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!) Plus listeners have access to all our Opinionpalooza emergency episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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that's vanta.com slash G-O for 10% off Vanta. Hi and welcome to Amicus. This is Slate's podcast about the courts, the

1:07.0

law, the US Supreme Court, the rule of law, I'm Dahlia Lithwick, that's my beat

1:12.1

at Slate. On October 1st of 2017, a gunman opened fire from

1:17.1

his suite in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, firing more than 1,000 rounds on the crowd gathered below on the strip for the Route 91 Harvest

1:26.6

Music Festival. 60 people were killed, 413 were wounded, many with life-altering disabilities, and the ensuing panic brought the total

1:35.3

number of injured to more than 860.

1:38.2

It was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in American history.

1:43.4

And how is the shooter able to unleash this level of death and mayhem and carnage solo?

1:50.0

Bump stocks.

1:51.0

Bump stocks are devices that attach to semi-automatic rifles enabling them to

1:55.5

fire at similar rates to a machine gun. The Trump administration, let me say that

2:00.4

one more time, the Trump administration enacted a bump stock ban

2:04.7

in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre.

2:06.8

At the time, President Trump described bump stocks

...

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