Supreme Court rejects bid from gun rights groups to delay bump stock ban

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by gun rights groups to temporarily delay the federal ban on bump stocks.

The rule took effect Wednesday, but the groups asked the Supreme Court to place a hold on the measure while other legal battles over the ban play out in lower courts.

{mosads}The Justice Department issued a rule in December banning the devices, giving owners 90 days to turn in or destroy their bump stocks.

The request rejected on Friday asked that Supreme Court halt the ban while the groups appeal their case with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit.

The debate over bump stocks — devices that can be attached to firearms to mimic gunfire from semi-automatic weapons — gained national prominence after the devices were used in the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that killed 59 people and injured hundreds, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The unsigned order issued Friday states that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have granted the groups’ request.

Updated at 2:17 p.m.