BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Trump-era ban on bump stocks is under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A bump stock is an accessory that can replace the stock on a semiautomatic rifle, harnessing recoil energy to fire more rounds more rapidly.

It was used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, which was the deadliest in modern history, and the Buffalo mass shooting in 2022.

“Bump stocks serve no legitimate purpose in my mind other than to expand the kill capacity of, you know, smaller weapons," said Garnell Whitfield, whose mother Ruth was killed in the Buffalo mass shooting at a grocery store. "And so I don’t know what purpose – legitimate purpose – they would serve in today’s society other than to kill other people." 

The case is Garland v. Cargill. Michael Cargill is a Texas gun shop owner arguing that the Trump administration failed to follow federal law to enact this ban.

The Biden administration stated the ban is lawful as it follows laws against machine guns already in place.

Whitfield feels as though the accessory serves no purpose in everyday life.

“Anything that infringes upon my rights to go to the grocery store and shop safely, anything that infringes on my rights as a human being, as a citizen of this country, should not be allowed,” he said. 

Plaintiffs argue that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, did not have the authority to enact the ban when it reclassified them in 2018, which was a reversal for the agency that previously said bump stocks should not be classified as machine guns, but individual parts of a firearm.

The question: What legally defines a machine gun? 

The answer: Now up for debate in the U.S. Supreme Court.