5th circuit revives challenge to bump stock ban

[Amishman]

2. This is an important point, and goes to a larger problem of definitions

Legal definitions are really hard to get right.

The definition of a machine gun was very clearly and specifically written for the designs and ideas that existed about a hundred years ago.

Bump stocks use a method that wasn't really known / considered when the definition was written. It falls outside the scope of that technical definition.

The efforts to ban bump stocks rely on the spirit of the law - to restrict machine guns. The problem is that isn't how jurisprudence works - the direct text of the law matters more, because otherwise all laws are more open to both unequal enforcement and abuse.

The definition needs to be updated in law