A three judge panel of the Sixth so ruled, reversing the lower court and remanding the case back to be decided consistent with the finding that they do not meet the definition of “machine gun.”

Importantly, they also ruled that the lower court erred in granting the ATF Chevron deference.

Because an agency’s interpretation of a criminal statute is not entitled to Chevron deference and because the ATF’s Final Rule is not the best interpretation of § 5845(b), we REVERSE the district court’s judgment and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

That’s quite proper, because Chevron deference is limited to administrative interpretation of civil matters, and specifically excludes interpretations that inflict criminal penalties.

The meat of the machine gun matter is here.

To initiate bump firing, the shooter pulls the trigger once, firing one shot, while maintaining “constant forward pressure with the non-trigger hand on the barrel-shroud or fore-grip of the rifle.” Id. at 66,516. At the same time, the shooter also maintains constant rearward pressure with his trigger hand, while keeping his trigger finger stationary. The recoil energy from the fired shot causes the firearm to slide backward approximately 1.5 inches. Id. at 66,518. The forward pressure applied by the shooter’s non-trigger hand, along with the recoil energy channeled by the bump stock, causes the firearm to then slide forward. As the firearm slides forward, the trigger “bumps” against the shooter’s stationary trigger finger, causing the trigger to depress and the firearm to shoot again. This second fired shot creates recoil energy once again, which again causes the bump-stock-attached firearm to slide back. The trigger is released and reset, and the process repeats.

And they take note of the way the ATF keeps changing its collective alleged mind (my phrasing, not theirs).

In 2006, the ATF opened an investigation and, by its own admission, “overruled” its previous decision that the Akins Accelerator was not a machine gun. Final Rule, 83 Fed. Reg. at 66,517. The Agency concluded that the Accelerator’s internal spring made the device a machine gun, but stated that if Accelerator owners removed the internal spring from the device, then it “would render the device a non-machinegun under the statutory definition.” Id. Akins sued, arguing that the Agency’s reversal was unreasonable, that the reversal violated due process, and that the statutory definition of machine gun was unconstitutionally vague.

This is a major win for freedom and rights. But it’s one Circuit, and it’s likely to be appealed to SCOTUS. And I trust them about as far as I can throw their building. With one hand.