Mayor Adams' Statement After Supreme Court Overturns Bump Stock Ban

June 14, 2024

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill, which overturned the federal prohibition on bump stocks — deadly devices that effectively convert assault weapons into machine guns. That prohibition was instituted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2018, following the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas in 2017. Bump stocks remain illegal in New York City. 

“In October 2017, 60 people were killed and at least 411 more were wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in American history, where a shooter used bump stocks to turn his guns into automatic weapons that fired 800 bullets per minute. The Supreme Court’s decision today to overturn the bump stock ban will allow dangerous people to access these deadly devices once again. 

“While these devices remain illegal in New York City, this decision — and the legacy of this Supreme Court — makes our country less safe. We need to dam every river that feeds the sea of gun violence, and here in New York City, we’re doing everything in our power to do just that. We’ve removed more than 16,000 illegal guns off of our streets in the last two years and invested nearly half a billion dollars in our Blueprint for Public Safety, which focuses on upstream solutions to prevent gun violence before a shot is even fired. As a result, we’ve driven shootings and homicides down by double-digits in each full year of our administration. 

“All the good work we’re doing, however, is undermined by this Supreme Court’s Second Amendment decisions, which collectively allow more dangerous weapons in the hands of more dangerous people, with fewer safeguards. We need Congress to step up and reinstate the prohibition on bump stocks before the next deadly mass shooting occurs.” 

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