2.28.2024

Bump Stocks Ban Case

The US Supreme Court today will hear arguments on the fate of bump stocks, a modification that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire continuously with one pull of the trigger.

In Garland v. Cargill (view here, 10 am ET), a gunshop owner is challenging a 2018 ban on bump stocks, arguing they don’t enable rifles to shoot multiple rounds “automatically” and “by a single function of the trigger” as per the government’s definition of machine guns, which are banned. The owner points to the ongoing physical pressure required on a barrel when using a bump stock, arguing the process is neither automatic nor a “single function of the trigger.” The government disagrees, pointing to a bump stock’s reliance on a gun’s recoil to trigger additional shots per a single press of the trigger. 

In 2018, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives banned the accessory following its use in a deadly 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. The ATF ordered over 700,000 bump stocks in circulation to be surrendered or destroyed, saying they violate a 1986 law that makes it illegal to own or produce new machine guns.

Odysseus Powers Down

Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander, the first-ever commercial spacecraft to land on the moon, stopped transmitting yesterday, several days earlier than intended. The historic mission returned US spacecraft to the moon after a 50-year hiatus but likely did not meet some goals after it tipped onto its side while landing near the lunar south pole last week.

Analysts believe a leg of the hexagonal, 14-foot-tall lander snagged the surface and tipped while approaching diagonally, tilting its antennas and solar arrays in the wrong direction. The craft was reportedly able to deliver some scientific data payloads in addition to an image of itself during descent. Results from several of NASA's instruments aboard the craft remain unknown, and an ejectable camera had not yet been deployed at this writing.

The mission is just one in a series of NASA-funded commercial lunar projects (see list) by private companies scheduled as preparation for the Artemis mission to return humans to the moon. 

'Jam Master Jay' Verdict  

A federal jury in New York yesterday convicted two men in the 2002 murder of hip-hop pioneer Jason Mizell, also known as Jam Master Jay. Mizell, who as a DJ made up one-third of the iconic group Run-DMC, was shot and killed at his Queens recording studio at age 37. The case remained unsolved for decades amid a lack of evidence and stalled investigations until 2020.

Karl Jordan Jr., 40, and Ronald Washington, 59, were found guilty on charges of murder while engaged in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy and firearm-related murder. Jordan (Mizell's godson) and Washington (Mizell's childhood friend) targeted Mizell after being cut out of a drug deal reportedly worth nearly $200K. The two men each face a maximum sentence of life in prison. A third man, Jay Bryant, whose DNA was found at the scene, faces a separate trial in 2026. 

Run-DMC is considered one of the most influential groups in hip-hop, bringing the genre into the mainstream in the mid-1980s, working with Aerosmith, and signing a deal with Adidas.

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