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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has again rejected a Utah gun enthusiast's attempt to block a new rule that bans a gun accessory known as a bump stock in the U.S. starting next Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish denied Clark Aposhian's request for a preliminary injunction last week, concluding he isn't likely to win the lawsuit he filed against the government on its merits.
Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, appealed the ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and asked Parrish to issue an injunction pending the appeal.
Parrish wrote that he is in effect asking the court to reverse course and grant him the injunction he was denied a week ago merely because he intends to appeal.
"In short, the court’s finding that Mr. Aposhian has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits is as fatal to his request for an injunction pending appeal as it was to his request for a preliminary injunction," the judge wrote.
Aposhian argues in the lawsuit that the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives violated the Constitution in prohibiting bump stocks, which modify rifles to fire like automatic weapons.
The Trump administration in late December adopted a new federal rule that redefined the devices as "machine guns," therefore banning them under existing law. The rule directs owners to destroy or surrender their bump stocks to the ATF before it takes effect March 26.
