Gun Owners Sue Over Florida Bump Stock Ban

By Erika Haas

Earlier this month, in response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, the Florida state legislature passed a sweeping gun reform bill which, among other things, bans bump stocks and raises the legal age to buy a rifle to 21. Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law shortly after. But now a handful of gun owners are suing the state as a result.

The plaintiffs, of which there are five, are claiming that the ban on bump stocks is an unconstitutional taking of personal property. Therefore, they argue, the estimated tens of thousands of Floridians who currently own bump stocks or other rapid-fire devices should receive “full compensation.”

In the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Leon County Circuit Court, the plaintiff’s lawyers cite the Florida Constitution which declares that the state cannot confiscate private property “except for a public person and with full compensation therefore paid to each owner.”

The lawsuit also mentions the 2010 ATF directive declaring bump-stocks “firearm parts.”

Despite the new legal challenge, Sen. Bill Galvano, a Republican and lawyer who sponsored the bill, says he stands by the ban.

“I have made a cursory review of the suit and continue to …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms