Supreme Court rejects gun rights advocates over bump stocks

FILE PHOTO: A bump fire stock that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate is seen at Good Guys Gun Shop in Orem, Utah, U.S., October 4, 2017. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday handed another setback to gun rights advocates challenging President Donald Trump's ban on "bump stock" devices that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly.

With two conservative justices dissenting, the court refused to temporarily exempt from the ban a group of plaintiffs including the Firearms Policy Foundation while their legal challenge continues to be litigated in Washington.

The Supreme Court twice previously rejected requests by gun rights advocates - in the case in the U.S. capital and a similar one in Michigan - to temporarily block the ban while legal challenges proceed in lower courts.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)