Bump Stocks

Gun ‘Bump Stocks’ for Rapid Fire Are Legal. Senators Ask Why.

Evidently legal and available over the Internet, says MSNBC TV, and legal to ship by ordinary mail.

Technically, they don't convert the weapon to automatic firing because it's still just one shot per trigger pull.

They work by automating and speeding up the pulling of the trigger.

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms special agent Jill Snyder said Tuesday night that the shooter in his hotel room had 12 "bump stocks," a legal aftermarket accessory that allows semi-automatic weapons to fire at rates approaching automatic ones. 

Snyder said investigators were still determining which weapons in the hotel room were used in the shooting.

. . . .

While they've shown no interest in more sweeping gun restrictions, Republican senators suggested Tuesday that Congress should investigate modifications that in effect skirt the federal government's virtual ban on automatic weapons.

Sen. Feinstein introducing bill to ban bump stocks after Vegas shooting

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime advocate of stricter gun control measures, introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban the sale and possession of bump-stock equipment and other devices that essentially turn a semiautomatic weapon into an automatic one.

According to a copy of the bill text provided to ABC, it would go into effect 180 days after its passage.

. . . .

“It shall be unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a trigger crank, a bump-fire device or any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun,” the bill states.

Why the but?

On the other hand, this.

Republican leaders have pushed back on Democrats' calls for tightening gun control legislation after the shooting, calling the demands premature.

"I think it's particularly inappropriate to politicize an event like this," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. 

"The investigation's not even been completed. And I think it's premature to be discussing legislative solutions if there are any."

"In the meantime, our priority is on tax reform, as my colleagues have indicated," McConnell added.