Court: No Compensation for Destroyed Bump Stocks

By Chris Eger

Retailers who had to destroy tens of thousands of bump stocks to comply with an ATF rule change went to court seeking reimbursement only to be rebuffed by a judge who said the government had the power to take the property without compensation. (Photo: Slide Fire Solutions)
A federal judge last week dismissed a claim from bump stock retailers who sued the government for damages they incurred after having to destroy their inventory.
The plaintiffs include two companies as well as two individuals who in all lost 74,995 bump stocks to the ban which took effect in March. The case, filed in a Washington, D.C. federal court, argued that the ban’s requirement that bump-stocks be surrendered or destroyed within 90 days, with no opportunity for registration, violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment which states that private property can’t be taken for public use without compensation.
The court didn’t see it that way.
“The law is different in this case because the government, as the sovereign, has the power to take property that is dangerous, diseased, or used in criminal activities without compensation,” said Senior Circuit Judge Loren A. Smith in his nine-page ruling. “Here, ATF acted properly within the confines of the

Source: Guns.com