In a post on X, Uthmeier said the law as written is overly broad and appears to restrict the use of trigger enhancements for lawful purposes, subjecting owners to five years in prison. He also released a formal legal opinion from his office concluding that the ban is unconstitutional because it prohibits an entire category of firearm accessories protected by the Second Amendment. The opinion states that the law imposes a categorical prohibition on a class of firearm components that can increase a semiautomatic weapon's rate of fire, but that semiautomatic firearms with such modifications are bearable arms covered by the Second Amendment's plain text.

The announcement does not repeal Florida's bump stock ban, which remains on the books. It changes only how the attorney general's office will handle appeals involving convictions under the law. The measure has not been struck down by a court or repealed by the Legislature.

Bump stocks are accessories that allow semiautomatic weapons to fire more rapidly by using the weapon's recoil to facilitate repeated trigger pulls. The devices drew national attention after the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, where a gunman fired more than 1,000 rounds from a hotel balcony into a crowd at an outdoor concert, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds. The federal government subsequently banned bump stocks, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that prohibition in a 6-3 decision in 2024, ruling that bump stocks do not convert semiautomatic firearms into machine guns under federal law because the trigger must still be released and reengaged for each shot. That ruling addressed federal authority under existing law, not whether such bans violate the Second Amendment, and Florida's separate state-level prohibition remained in effect.

Florida lawmakers approved the bump stock ban in 2018 as part of a sweeping school safety and gun control package following the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 14 students and three staff members were killed. The legislation included three major gun control provisions: banning bump stocks, raising the minimum age to purchase rifles from 18 to 21, and establishing a red flag law allowing authorities to seek court orders temporarily removing firearms from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. It also funded school safety improvements and created a guardian program to train certain school personnel to carry firearms. The package received bipartisan support but divided lawmakers in both parties, with some Republicans opposing the gun control measures and some Democrats, particularly Black lawmakers, raising concerns about armed personnel in schools. Then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, signed the legislation and has defended it as necessary to help prevent future mass shootings.

Uthmeier's announcement comes as Florida prepares for a new administration under Governor-elect Byron Donalds, who served in the state House when the legislation passed in 2018 and voted against it. Donalds criticized the gun control provisions during his campaign for governor and is set to take office in January.

The attorney general's decision is likely to intensify debate over gun policy in Florida, a state that has seen both bipartisan action on firearm restrictions and strong opposition from Second Amendment advocates. While the ban remains law, the state's top lawyer has now signaled he will not defend it in court, leaving the measure's enforcement and legal future uncertain as a new governor takes office.