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SALT LAKE CITY — Perhaps the only person in the country who could legally have a bump stock will have to relinquish the gun accessory for now.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday lifted a temporary injunction that allowed Clark Aposhian to keep the device after federal law banned them starting March 26. The Denver-based court issued the injunction March 21 to consider his motion to not enforce the ban against him pending the outcome of his lawsuit.
"Upon review of the materials filed by the parties and the pertinent law, the court concludes that an injunction pending appeal is not warranted in this case," according to the three-judge panel.
Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said his bump stock, which modifies a rifle to fire like automatic weapons, would be "impounded" and that he must turn it in, likely to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, by next Monday.
"That’s the way that the court is dealing with irreparable harm, in that it wouldn’t be irreparable then, if and when we win the case, it would be returned to me," he said.
Aposhian sued the Department of Justice and the ATF, alleging the federal agencies violated the Constitution in prohibiting bump stocks.
The Trump administration in late December adopted a new federal rule that redefined the bump stocks as "machine guns," therefore banning them under existing law. The rule directs owners to destroy or surrender their devises to the ATF.
U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish previously denied Aposhian's request to block the rule and issue a preliminary injunction, concluding he isn't likely to win the lawsuit on its merits. He appealed her decision to the 10th Circuit.
