Special Episode: Guns in America
Here's What's Happening for June 17th, 2024
National Take Your Cat to Work Day
We start how we start here in America, with a special post all about guns in America, brought to us by a Supreme Court ruling and a weekend of shootings.
A Consequential Supreme Court Decision
On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down a ban on bump stocks1.
So, what is a bump stock? It’s an attachment for a semiautomatic rifle that replaces the stock, the part that rests against the shooter’s shoulder. Normally, a semiautomatic rifle requires a trigger pull for each shot. But with a bump stock, the trigger essentially "bumps" back and forth between the shooter’s shoulder and trigger finger. This modification allows the shooter to hold down the trigger and fire shots at a rate comparable to a fully automatic weapon, which is illegal for private citizens to own2.
For those new here—hey, I’m Kim 👋. I don’t own guns, though I’ve fired a few. My explanation of a bump stock is based on research, not firsthand experience. Discussing guns often brings out technical critiques from enthusiasts. Meanwhile, we’ve got people who don’t know how ovaries work and can’t even say period without blushing, making laws that take away choice and bodily autonomy. Yes, there might be a slight technical error in my description, but the essence remains: a bump stock makes a gun much deadlier without any additional effort from the shooter.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling, along ideological lines, declared that a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a machine gun because it cannot fire more than one shot “by a single function of the trigger.”
Historical Badman Justice Thomas, wrote: “We hold that a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bump stock is not a ‘machine gun’ because it cannot fire more than one shot ‘by a single function of the trigger.’”
An infuriating opinion because it’s thanks to the bump that occurs between the bump stock and the trigger, even though all the shooter needs to do is hold the trigger down. Yes, there is still, technically, mechanically, more than one pull on the trigger. But only because of the bump stock!
When I say that this opinion fell along ideological lines, I mean… seriously. Normally Justices hand over their opinions and dissents and they’re serious on their own. However, Justice Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, which is how you know she dissents with her whole chest.
In her comments, she said: “When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.” Adding:
“A bump-stock-equipped semiautomatic rifle fires ‘automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.’ Because I, like Congress, call that a machine gun, I respectfully dissent.”
A Multitude of Danger
This ruling is dangerous on two fronts.
First, practically: America is plagued by a mass shooting epidemic, a crisis met with political inertia. The Supreme Court has now made an already deadly weapon even more accessible.
Second, symbolically: Overturning the bump stock ban erases the minuscule progress we've made toward sensible gun regulation. It sends a clear message to the country, and the world, that meaningful action to address our gun violence crisis is not a priority.
And if you’re looking for proof of the way this country isn’t interested in fixing this problem: next week Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to reintroduce a bill to restore the ban… let’s just see what happens.
A Weekend of Mass Shootings
In the shadow of Friday’s ruling…
A Texas Juneteenth Shooting
Two people are dead in Texas after a fight broke out at a Juneteenth celebration on Saturday3. At some point, during the fight, someone pulled a gun and began to shoot.
At least six people were taken to the hospital with potentially serious injuries and the two people that died were not involved in the fight.
It’s not even known, right now, how many guns were at the scene.
In 2021, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, signed into law a bill that made it legal in Texas for most people over the age of 21 to carry a gun in a holster without a permit. And though it has to be in a holster, it can carried open or concealed.
Without a permit.
Now two people are dead and we don’t even know how many guns were at the scene.
A Detroit Splash Pad Shooting
Also on Saturday – at least nine people were shot, including a four-year-old, after what appears to be a random shooting at a splash pad in a Detroit, Michigan neighborhood4. The shooter was found dead in his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
There is currently no known motive, with the shooter having no connection to any of the victims.
A Weekend of Gun Violence
Across town, a different Detroit suburb saw another shooting that left six people injured. In Massachusetts, seven were shot at a party.
According to the Gun Violence Archive5, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter, this weekend saw eight mass shootings.
Now What?
We’re 169 days into the year, and there have already been at least 220 mass shootings.
This weekend’s tragedies did not involve bump stocks, but the Supreme Court’s decision casts a shadow over our collective efforts to curb gun violence. We must move beyond legalistic parsing and recognize the devastating impact of our permissive gun culture. More mass shootings than days in the year—a stark reminder that we cannot afford to wait any longer for change.
It’s time to prioritize lives over technicalities and take meaningful steps toward a safer future.
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