By Jeff Daiell
The Trump Administration, in a strikingly un-Constitutional move, has now officially banned bump-stocks.
Let me count the ways this action violates the Federal Constitution.
First, of course, such an action, even if it were otherwise Constitutional, is legislative in nature, and only Congress can enact Federal legislation.
The action also violates the 2nd Amendment. A bump-stock is part of a weapon, and therefore protected by that provision. But even if the 2nd Amendment does not protect the Right to own a bump-stock, the 9th Amendment would: it says that even those Rights not cited in the Constitution are protected against Federal trespass.
Then there is the 10th Amendment. Since there is no Constitutional authority for the central government to ban bump-stocks, such a ban is, well, banned by the 10th Amendment.
On all of these grounds, then, the bump stock ban must be challenged and rejected.
