WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, which expanded gun rights in a major decision in June, on Monday declined to hear a challenge to a federal ban on devices called "bump stocks" that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire like a machine gun - a firearms control measure prompted by a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting.

The justices turned away appeals by a Utah gun lobbyist named Clark Aposhian and firearms rights groups of lower court rulings upholding the ban as a reasonable interpretation of a federal law prohibiting machine gun possession.

At issue was action by former President Donald Trump Trump's administration to reclassify bump stocks as prohibited machine guns under U.S. law in a policy that went into effect in 2019.

Bump stocks use a gun's recoil to bump its trigger, enabling a semiautomatic weapon to fire hundreds of rounds per minute to let it shoot like a machine gun. Trump pledged to ban them soon after a gunman used semiautomatic weapons outfitted with bump stock devices in a shooting spree that killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas.

Following the massacre, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a U.S. Justice Department agency, reversed a previous conclusion and classified bump stocks as forbidden under a 1934 U.S. law called the National Firearms Act enacted in response to the gangster violence of that era. Trump also directed the Justice Department to issue a rule to ban bump stocks.

In a 6-3 ruling in June powered by its conservative justices, the court declared for the first time that the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. The decision handed a victory to gun rights advocates in a nation deeply divided over how to address firearms violence.

The court's three liberal justices dissented from that ruling, which struck down New York state limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home.

The ban on bump stocks, put in place without congressional action, required owners to turn in or destroy the attachments, with those caught in possession of bump stocks facing up to 10 years in prison.

Only rarely do gun control measures get enacted at the federal level. President Joe Biden in June signed into law the first major federal gun reform in three decades, two days after the Supreme Court's decision in the New York case. That law was designed to help prevent people deemed dangerous from accessing guns and increase investments in the U.S. mental health system.

Aposhian is the chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, according to its website. The group lobbies the Utah State Legislature "to defeat gun control and pass pro-gun legislation."

Aposhian sued to halt the ban in 2019, challenging the ATF's authority in reclassifying bump stocks as forbidden machine guns. After a federal judge refused to grant him an injunction early in the case, Aposhian surrendered his bump stock, pending the outcome of the litigation.

The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020 upheld the ban, declining to second guess the ATF's reinterpretation of the term "machine gun" under federal law.

Separately, gun owner advocacy groups including Gun Owners of America and three of its individual members, sued in federal court in Michigan to block the bump stock ban from taking effect. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021 upheld the ban.

The appeals to the Supreme Court argue that the lower courts impermissibly deferred to the ATF's actions.

The Supreme Court in 2019 declined to block the ban from going into effect.

The National Rifle Association, a gun rights group closely aligned with Republicans, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in support of Aposhian. Trump's fellow Republicans favor a broad interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms promised in the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. (Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

“The thing about Finland is that when you ask a straight question you usually get a straight answer,” remarked one fan of Ms Marin

(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Most Read from BloombergRussia Races to Reopen Crimea Bridge Damaged in Fiery BlastPutin Orders Sakhalin-1 Project Transferred to Russian EntityMinecraft Star Dream Meets His Screaming Fans for First TimeFacebook Is Warning 1 Million Users About Stolen Usernames, PasswordsWall Street Is Missing the Risk to Stocks If Inflation Is BeatenGlobal finance chiefs gather in Washington in the co

The world’s richest man saw his rocket company ferry astronauts to space, his car company disappoint Wall Street, and he once again offered to buy one of his favorite messaging tools.

(Bloomberg) -- China criticized expanded US restrictions on its access to semiconductor technology, saying they’ll harm supply chains and the world economy.Most Read from BloombergRussia Races to Reopen Crimea Bridge Damaged in Fiery BlastPutin Orders Sakhalin-1 Project Transferred to Russian EntityMinecraft Star Dream Meets His Screaming Fans for First TimeFacebook Is Warning 1 Million Users About Stolen Usernames, PasswordsWall Street Is Missing the Risk to Stocks If Inflation Is BeatenPreside

Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersHot on the heels of embarrassing reports of Russian recruits fighting each other and Moscow loyalists calling for Kremlin ministers to kill themselves, it seems the rage against Vladimir Putin’s handling of his invasion of Ukraine is now openly being conveyed to the man himself by members of his own inner circle.A report Friday—which is Putin’s 70th birthday—said that one of the despot’s closest allies had openly challenged the disastrous way the war was being conducted.

‘I am really hoping that he gets the support and the respect that he needs,’ actor said

The justices have agreed to take on two cases that challenge the fundamental legal foundation that has guided online life for decades.

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is closing ranks around a goal of quickly raising their benchmark interest rate to around 4.5% then holding it there, while being prepared to go higher if elevated inflation fails to show signs of easing.Most Read from BloombergRussia Races to Reopen Crimea Bridge Damaged in Fiery BlastPutin Orders Sakhalin-1 Project Transferred to Russian EntityMinecraft Star Dream Meets His Screaming Fans for First TimeFacebook Is Warning 1 Million Users About Stolen Username

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wants to have a new “grand bargain” between Russia and the West, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told CNN on Oct. 8.

(Bloomberg) -- The US has accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia after it led OPEC+ in a shock decision to slash crude output, keeping oil prices high at a time of global concern about inflation. The world’s largest oil exporter insists the decision was about economics, not politics. Most Read from BloombergRussia Races to Reopen Crimea Bridge Damaged in Fiery BlastPutin Orders Sakhalin-1 Project Transferred to Russian EntityMinecraft Star Dream Meets His Screaming Fans for First TimeFaceboo

Ukrainian military and civil officials have reported disruptions on the frontline to the vital Starlink space-based Internet network used by Ukraine’s military, UK newspaper the Financial Times wrote on Oct. 7, citing its own sources.

UKRAINSKA PRAVDA - SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2022, 10:55 The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is behind the explosion on the Crimean bridge that occurred on early 8 October. Source: a non-revealed source of the Ukrainska Pravda in law enforcement agencies Details: According to the source, the explosion is a special operation conducted by the SSU.

The South Carolina Republican also snapped at the bereaved mother of a police officer for speaking ill of Donald Trump, according to writer Michael Fanone.

An explosion ripped across the Crimean Bridge on Oct. 8, threatening a vital supply route for Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO - SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2022, 17:47 According to Ukrainian Intelligence, numerous arrests of servicemen have started in Moscow, with traffic in the city centre blocked, although Russian media are failing to report this.

One reason that OPEC seems comfortable cutting production to push prices higher is that the cartel is less concerned with losing market share than it was in the past.

Zachary Petrizzo/The Daily BeastWASHINGTON, D.C.—Right-wing activists assembled on Capitol grounds Friday afternoon for yet another pro-Trump rally after a similar event proved an epic failure less than two weeks ago—but again found themselves struggling to explain a pathetically low turnout.Fervent supporters of Jan. 6 defendants, a MAGA-loving fashion designer, and a rough-and-tumble gentleman dressed in early colonial garb were just a few of the characters back outside the Capitol, equally up

Late last year, as the National Archives ratcheted up the pressure on former President Donald Trump to return boxes of records he had taken from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago club, he came up with an idea to resolve the looming showdown: cut a deal. Trump, still determined to show he had been wronged by the FBI investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, was angry with the National Archives and Records Administration for its unwillingness to hand over a batch of sensitive document

(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the New Economy Daily newsletter, follow us @economics and subscribe to our podcast.Most Read from BloombergRussia Races to Reopen Crimea Bridge Damaged in Fiery BlastPutin Orders Sakhalin-1 Project Transferred to Russian EntityMinecraft Star Dream Meets His Screaming Fans for First TimeFacebook Is Warning 1 Million Users About Stolen Usernames, PasswordsWall Street Is Missing the Risk to Stocks If Inflation Is BeatenThe world’s leading central banks are finally pushin

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO - SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2022, 20:43 Satellite images have been released showing the damage to the Crimean Bridge after the explosion on Saturday, 8 October. Source: PlanetScope images posted by Planet Twitter, journalist Christopher Miller on Twitter Quote: "This pair of PlanetScope images, captured just one day apart on October 7 and 8, 2022, shows the damaged Kerch Strait Bridge following a major explosion today.