But thanks to Cargill, the regulation–can we really call it a law?–is as dead as Trump’s would-be assassin.

And now, the ATF has returned at least one bump stock to its rightful owner, David Codrea.

Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Independence Ohio Field Office surrendered what ATF had classified as a “FIREARM: OTHER FIREARM… TYPE: MACHINE GUN” to this correspondent Friday, returning property held in a vault since 2019. It was, in fact, a bump stock, once more deemed not a machine gun and “legal” to own following the United State Supreme Court’s landmark Cargill ruling.

This column reported in July that ATF had emailed attorney Stephen Stamboulieh to provide a field office contact so that pickup could be arranged.

That done, the drive from my home to the field office (accompanied by my wife, Maureen) took about half an hour and ended at some pretty nice digs, with marble walls and floors, “gold” trim and an indoor lobby fountain. ATF keeps offices on the seventh floor, with a security anteroom displaying portraits of Director Steve Dettelbach, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden, leading directly into a conference room affording a killer view of the Cleveland skyline on the horizon.

One agent met us at the elevator and escorted us to the anteroom, where we were met and brought into the meeting room by the RAC (Resident Agent in Charge) and a TFO (Task Force Officer). They were both respectful and cordial and seemingly understanding of how untenable it is to repeatedly go back and forth from legal to illegal. I asked if anyone else had come to reclaim their property and was told I was the only one, that others had forfeited theirs, and that one business that had made stocks wrote the loss off on taxes.

Codrea bought the bump stock explicitly to challenge the law–he didn’t even own the model of gun that particular stock was designed for–and I get that. I respect it, even. The truth is that the rule was never right or constitutional, particularly with how it was foisted onto the American people.

Oh, I get the rationale for doing it that way. Congress was in the process of passing a much more restrictive measure and a lot of Republicans were signing on in the wake of Las Vegas. This minimized the damage.

But political considerations are one thing, the Constitution is another.

Even a congressionally passed law would have been unconstitutional. That would have been challenged in court and probably overturned as a gross overstepping of congressional authority.

For now, Codrea got his gun back and he notes above how even the ATF agents understand how ridiculous it is for something to be legal, then illegal, then legal again, then illegal again. It’s stupid and we all know it. How could they not know it?

I’m disappointed that so many people forfeited theirs. I get the business doing it, mind you, because you don’t want to have to keep paying taxes on inventory you’re not sure you’ll ever be able to sell, but I’d have liked to see more people not forfeit their stocks so as to make a point.

Then again, how many even realized there was an option beyond forfeiture? How many just held onto their stocks and waited?

There’s no way of knowing and it’s kind of a moot point now. The ban is over, at least for now, and people like Codrea got their bump stock back. My hope is that the ATF is done playing these games. Laws shouldn’t be created by executive fiat, which is what happened, and the ATF got slapped down over it. I hope they won’t try it again.