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Federal judge upholds Trump administration’s bump stock ban

(CNN) — A federal judge rejected a challenge to the Trump administration’s ban on bump-fire stocks Monday.

United States District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled against the plaintiffs in two consolidated federal lawsuits challenging a nationwide ban on the devices and asking for an injunction to prevent the ban from going forward and being enforced.

Bump-fire stocks came under scrutiny following a deadly 2017 massacre in Las Vegas, in which a gunman rigged his weapons with the devices to kill 58 people and injure nearly 900. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) responded, in part, by reconsidering its definition of machine guns to include “bump-stock-type devices.”

Bump stocks, also known by the brand name Slide Fire, modify rifles, turning them into automatic fire weapons. When the trigger on an automatic weapon is pulled once and held, the gun continues firing until the trigger is released.

The ATF had previously concluded bump-fire stocks were merely a gun accessory or firearm part, not subject to federal regulation. They were tightly regulated, but legal.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker signed a new federal regulation in December that concluded that bump-fire stocks fall within the prohibition on machine guns, and therefore are illegal under federal law.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs — Damien Guedes, the Firearms Policy Coalition, David Codrea and their co-plaintiffs — argued that the ATF violated procedural requirements, and that Whitaker did not, at the time, have the authority to set forth a ban.

Following Monday’s ruling, the plaintiffs issued a statement saying that have filed a notice of appeal and will continue to challenge the ban.

“We are disappointed but unsurprised by the Court’s ruling tonight denying a temporary injunction to protect Americans from an unlawful and unconstitutional regulation,” they said in a joint statement.

US-Iran conflict enters new phase as Saudi Arabia helps hit proxies and diplomacy stalls again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia has publicly joined military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries. Despite several days of relative calm, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war — and further expansion in the region — while little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward. While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks. Following a thwarted attack on the U.S. base in Jordan, Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while sustaining the prospect of continued talks.
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