Congress, the Supreme Court, and Bump Stocks

I have some comments surrounding the recent ruling by the Supreme Court about “Bump Stocks”.

1. The Supreme Court did exactly what it is supposed to do: it ruled on the legality of the issue. It didn’t make any statement about the right or lack thereof to own and use a bump stock.
2. I’ll say it a different way: The Supreme Court decidedly did not establish the right to own and use a bump stock. They did not say “Hey, bump stocks are wonderful! Go use them!” Many people don’t understand this, and it is a very, very important thing to understand.
3. The Supreme Court’s job is decidedly not to bring about outcomes that it deems good for society.
4. It did make a ruling on the legality of the Executive Branch’s unilateral decision to ban bump stocks. It ruled that the Executive Branch, which is charged with executing (not making) the law, exceeded the law in declaring the ban. In other words, the law did not allow them to ban bump stocks.
5. The Executive Branch is not allowed to ban things unilaterally just because they feel like it or because people clamor for it. Only Congress can pass laws that ban things. The Supreme Court rightly read the law, saw that it didn’t allow the Executive Branch to ban bump stocks, and thus overturned the ruling. In other words, the Executive Branch overreached its authority and made up a law. They can’t do that, and the Supreme Court rightly stopped them.
6. When people make up laws, we call that “tyranny”, so we have systems that stop people from doing that.
7. If the people of the United States want to ban bump stocks, they need to write their Congresspeople and ask them to pass a law banning bump stocks. It’s that easy.
8. Every time the Supreme Court stops the Executive Branch you voted for from doing something you want but that it shouldn’t be doing, it makes it easier for them to block the Executive Branch you didn’t vote for from doing things they shouldn’t be doing that you don’t want them to do. Remember that.
9. Congress needs to stop preening for cable news and start passing laws like they are supposed to. We as a people need to realize that the legislature, not the courts, is where we go to get the laws and societal outcomes we want.
10. Again, it is the job of Congress to ban bump stocks. Not the President. Not the Supreme Court. It’s Congress’s job.
11. I’m 100% behind banning bump stocks.

That is all.