Alaskans weigh in on bump stock ban being lifted by US Supreme Court

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessory used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that killed 60 people — including the gunman — and wounded more than 400.

Alaskans reacted to the ruling Friday, many expressing mixed reactions.

Bump stocks assist in rapid fire by “bumping” the trigger against the shooter’s finger. In the 6-3 majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the Justice Department was wrong to declare that the accessory transformed semiautomatic rifles into illegal machine guns because, he wrote, each trigger depression in rapid succession still only releases one shot.

However, many gun owners in Alaska questioned if the ban would have any impact on the gun industry in Alaska, as many stores didn’t carry bump stocks before the ban; it was an accessory many likely purchased online.

Michael McDaniel, owner of Alaska Tactical, said bump stocks are not “practical.”

He said a bump stock does not aid in accuracy or marksmanship, and describes the accessory as something a beginner would likely use for fun at a gun range.

“We would not allow those at all in any of our classes,” McDaniel said. “It just doesn’t fit the bill at all, as far as learning the proper way and the proper fundamentals of how to manipulate and shoot a firearm with a system like that on it.”

McDaniel, however, did express support for the ban being lifted, saying when it comes to firearms, he doesn’t agree with any ban that infringes on Second Amendment rights.

“So even if it’s an impractical item, I still don’t agree with anything that takes more of our rights away from what we can safely buy and safely use as far as in a controlled environment. I don’t think that that should ever be infringed upon,” McDaniel said.

Michael Crockett, who was walking through Downtown Anchorage on Friday, disagrees. He is not in favor of the ban being lifted and says he didn’t know what bump stocks were until the 2017 mass shooting.

“You see the videos of it and the audio of that shooting ... it sounds like an automatic weapon going off,” Crockett said. “So to me, I see that, and I don’t understand the purpose of it, other than to just fire off more rounds in a given amount of time.”

The Associated Press reports that there were about 520,000 bump stocks in circulation when the ban went into effect in 2019, requiring people to either surrender or destroy the accessories at a combined estimated loss of $100 million, plaintiffs cited in court documents.