Holland & Hart appellate partner Chris Jackson is quoted in the Colorado Politics and The Gazette Jan. 28 article entitled “Bump stocks have a day in court again – this time in Colorado.” The article discusses oral arguments before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in a rehearing of the plaintiff’s request for an injunction in a case challenging the federal government’s ban on bump stocks. “The judges can take a few different approaches to deciding the case that are less direct than upholding or striking down the bump stock ban. They could make a decision about the preliminary injunction denied by the District Court,” Jackson said.
The article examines how the case involves conflicting legal principles: the Chevron doctrine, which directs courts to defer to government agencies’ interpretations of laws if they are reasonable; and the rule of lenity, a criminal law principle law that interprets ambiguous laws in favor of a defendant. “In this case, you kind of have an overlap of those two issues, because the ATF's regulation makes it illegal to own a bump stock,” Jackson added.
Read the full article that was published in Colorado Politics online on Jan. 28 here: “Bump stocks have a day in court again – this time in Colorado,” (subscription needed).
The article also appeared in The Gazette online on Jan. 28 here: “Bump stocks have a day in court again – this time in Colorado,” (subscription needed).