Will the Supreme Court's ruling on bump stocks affect Indiana's Glock switch ban?
INDIANAPOLIS — A U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks has raised questions about whether the decision could impact the Hoosier State's laws about firearm attachments.
Last year, Indiana became one of a growing number of states to outlaw auto sears, commonly referred to as Glock switches, by determining the tiny attachments convert firearms into machine guns. The decision came after the illegal accessories began showing up at crime scenes, concerning police because of their ability to turn semiautomatic guns into fully automatic firearms at a rate of 31 rounds in 2.1 seconds.
The recent decision from the country’s highest court determined that bump stocks, a different type of firearm attachment, were wrongly classified as machine guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2018.
Related: Read the Supreme Court's opinion here
Does the Supreme Court’s ruling affect Indiana’s ban on Glock switches?
Not likely, experts say.
Bump stocks versus Glock switch
Bump stocks attach to a semiautomatic rifle. When the trigger is pulled the bump stock uses the firearm's kickback to slide the weapon back and forth quickly, allowing it to fire hundreds of rounds a minute.
Auto sears, commonly called Glock switches, are small pieces that, when attached to the slide of a semiautomatic handgun, allow the firearm to become fully automatic with a single pull of the trigger.
What was the debate?
The Supreme Court case arose after the Trump administration banned bump stocks and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2018 concluded the device met the legal definition of a machine gun.
The ban was put in place after the man behind the 2017 mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas used a bump stock to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Nearly 60 people were killed.
The court's ruling on Friday came down to the function of the trigger.
With bump stocks, a person can pull the trigger, which allows the gun to recoil and fire as the gun ‘bounces’ back and forth to fire. In a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled that fell outside the definition of a machine gun by requiring more than a single pull, still with multiple functions of a trigger.
“Without this ongoing manual input, a semiautomatic rifle with a bump stock will not fire multiple shots,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion.
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the ruling is "inconsistent" with the ordinary meaning of the machine gun definition.
"When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck," she wrote.
Will the Supreme Court decision clear the way for Glock switches in Indiana?
No, experts say.
"The decision will have no implications for Glock switches," said Jody Madeira, an Indiana University professor at the Maurer School of Law, explaining that the case was hyper-focused on the function of bump stocks that it couldn't extend to switches.
Guy Relford, an attorney focused on the Second Amendment and Indiana's gun laws, also said the ruling does not affect switches.
"Does this mean Glock switches are legal? Whether at the state or federal level? Absolutely not," he said.
Relford noted Glock switches are "fundamentally different" than bump stocks in that a person only has to pull the trigger once with an auto sear and the firearm will continue to shoot.
Glock switches: 5 questions answered about the devices showing up at Indy crime scenes
The ruling also will not clear the way for challenges to Indiana's law about Glock switch-related devices, experts said, because the case did not stem from a Second Amendment challenge. Rather, the case took issue with the ATF, versus Congress, regulating the firearm attachments.
Further, the Supreme Court noted the ATF "accordingly recognized" how auto sears convert firearms into machine guns.
What does Indiana law say about Glock switches?
Gov. Eric Holcomb last year signed a law affirming Glock switches convert firearms into machine guns when attached.
Before that point, there was no state law explicitly banning them. In that time, without guidance from state law and as Glock switches continued to emerge at crime scenes, Marion County’s Prosecutor Ryan Mears in an "admittedly aggressive" approach, charged people with possession of a machine gun.
An Indianapolis man unsuccessfully tried to challenge his machine gun possession charge in 2022, arguing Indiana's laws at the time of his arrest "did not prohibit devices that have been adapted or converted by accessories."
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a trial court's decision, shortly after Indiana's law was signed.
“The gun either fires more than one shot automatically without reloading, or it does not,” the opinion reads
Does Indiana have a bump stock ban?
Indiana is not among the 15 states and the District of Columbia with a bump stock ban in place. The Supreme Court’s ruling does not affect the states' bans.
Contact IndyStar reporter Sarah Nelson at sarah.nelson@indystar.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What the Supreme Court's bump stock ruling means for Glock switches
