Supreme Court hears challenge to federal bump stock ban

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who often sits at the ideological center of the court, is raising concerns about people being prosecuted under the ban without even knowing it exists.

"Even if you're not aware of the legal prohibition, you can be convicted," Kavanaugh pressed the attorney representing the Biden administration. "That's going to ensure a lot of people who were not are of the legal prohibition."

The government previously estimated that as many as a half million bump stocks were sold between 2011 and 2018. Brian Fletcher, representing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the government took all steps it could to advise Americans about the ban, including publishing the proposed rule in the Federal Register.

That prompted a joke from Neil Gorsuch about Americans cracking open the Federal Register "next to the fire and the dog" to read about federal regulations.