In a resolute push to keep trigger-happy devices off the streets, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, bolstered by a coalition of 22 other top state legal eagles, has called on the US Supreme Court to give the thumbs-up to a federal ban on bump stocks. These controversial gizmos can turn a regular Joe's semiautomatic rifle into a full-blown automatic terror, the type that can spit bullets at a dizzying pace.
The big legal guns swung into action with an amicus brief dropped in the case of Garland v. Cargill, marching in step with a 2018 rule that puts bump stocks in the same bad-news basket as machine guns. Raoul's squad is banging the drum for public safety, arguing, as reported, "Military-style weapons and their accessories have no place in our society and are intended to inflict mass carnage." They say letting this rule slide could open the floodgates, letting these rapid-fire devices wreak havoc, just like the bloodbath at a 2017 Vegas music fest.
Sweeping back to the '30s and '80s, the law has kept a tight leash on automatic weapons, the kind that can cause mayhem in the blink of an eye. These bump stocks skirt around the law, being marketed as a sneaky way to bypass the bans. The regulation has been tossed around in the courts with mixed results. As things stand, it's the Supreme Court's turn to lay down the law.
As Raoul leads the charge across state lines, he's been keeping his own backyard tidy too. He bagged a lawsuit against a shady gun-maker and threw support behind laws in New York and New Jersey that make sure gun industry players don't step out of line. Raoul’s office also goes the extra mile, supporting services for victims of violence in Illinois, ensuring families touched by such tragedies get the support they need, according to the Illinois Attorney General's website.
The stakes are sky-high, with this legal showdown having the potential to reshape the landscape of gun control in America. A chorus of other states are singing from the same hymn sheet, all locking arms with Raoul in the hopes that the Supreme Court will toe the line and keep the 2018 bump stock ban firmly in place.
