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Can you legally buy a bump stock?

On Behalf of | Apr 24, 2022 | Federal Criminal Defense

Firearms are always changing and innovations are being made, and one of the more recent innovations is a bump stock. This is a stock that is spring-loaded and it uses the energy from the gun being fired to chamber the next round.

As a result, someone using a bump stock can hold the trigger down and fire endlessly until the magazine is empty, should they choose to do so. Is it legal to buy these?

Bump stocks have been banned at the federal level

Although it is a somewhat controversial decision and people have challenged its legality of it through lawsuits, bump stocks have been banned federally and it is explicitly illegal to own one. This was not always true, but the laws were updated in 2018.

Essentially, federal law sees a bump stock as just another way to create a machine gun. It was already illegal to own machine guns that could fire rapidly, and bump stocks exploited a loophole to get around this because the gun was technically only firing one time. The bump stock simply made it possible for someone to fire much quicker than they could ever do by pulling the trigger repeatedly on a semi-automatic weapon. Since the federal laws have been updated, bump stocks are now just as illegal as any other gun that can fire continuously.

Are you facing serious weapons charges?

If you already own a bump stock that you did not get rid of when the law was changed or if you’re facing other types of serious weapons charges, they can completely change your life. Make sure that you know about all of your criminal defense options