Bump stock ban in place after Supreme Court shoots down multiple attempts to fight it

The Trump administration's ban on bump stocks officially went into effect on March 26 despite several attempts by Second Amendment rights advocates to block it in court.

What are the details?

President Donald Trump announced he would ban bump stocks after the device was used in the Las Vegas massacre in October 2017, which left 58 dead and more than 400 injured.

In order to implement the ban without approval from Congress, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives changed the definition of the bump stock accessory to classify it as a "machine gun," because the device uses the recoil of a rifle to simulate automatic fire.

Several lawsuits were launched by gun rights groups to stop the new regulation, but all efforts have thus far been shot down — with the U.S. Supreme Court snuffing out three just last week.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, the high court rejected separate requests to hold off on the ban. Friday's order rejected an appeal from the Firearms Policy Coalition and others, but noted that Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch would have granted their application for an injunction.

What now?

Gun rights advocates vowed to continue fighting the ban, with Gun Owners of America legislative counsel Michael Hammond saying in a statement, "GOA will continue to fight the issue in the court system, as the case now returns to the lower courts. We remain convinced that the courts will consign this unlawful, unconstitutional ban to the trash bin of history, where it belongs," Reuters reported.

In the meantime, anyone who possesses one of the estimated 520,000 bump stocks owned in America could face up to 10 years in prison and thousands in fines for not destroying or turning in the now-prohibited accessory. No compensation will be given for handing over the devices, which cost around $200, the Lompoo Record reported.

Yet, there are a handful of gun owners who are able to legally keep their bump stocks, for now.

One of them is Clark Aposhian, a Utah gun lobbyist who sued the Trump administration on the grounds that the ban was illegal law passed by an administrative agency rather than by Congress. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Aposhian was granted the right to keep his bump stock while his case is still pending.