No. 19-296October Term 2019Decided Mar 2, 2020
Guedes v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
This case challenges the ATF’s rule treating bump stocks as machineguns under federal law, which effectively bans them.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Mar 2, 2020
- What it's about
This case challenges the ATF’s rule treating bump stocks as machineguns under federal law, which effectively bans them. The petition asks how courts should interpret a criminal statute that also governs agency regulation, including whether courts should defer to the ATF’s reading of the law.
Question presented
Whether the court of appeals correctly denied a preliminary injunction where petitioners failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on their contention that devices known as bump stocks, which permit users to fire a semiautomatic rifle repeatedly with a single pull of the trigger, do not qualify as “machinegun[s]” under the National Firearms Act, 26 U.S.C. 5845(b).
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit / Decision released Mar 2, 2020
- Area
Administrative Law, Gun Rights
Timing
Decided March 2, 2020
The Court released its decision on March 2, 2020 without hearing oral argument.
Documents
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 25, 2026
- Method
- Methodology