SUPPORT FOR GUN CONTROL
US gun lobby group agrees to regulate bump stocks after massacre
WASHINGTON
THE most prominent United States gun lobby group on Thursday has said it agrees to place a restriction on a device that accelerates gunfire, after a version of it was discovered in the arsenal of Las Vegas killer Stephen Paddock, who was behind the deadliest mass shooting in the modern US history, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) said it agreed to tighter control of “bump stocks”, which were used to replace a rifle’s standard stock to give a semiautomatic rifle the rapid firing speed of a machine gun.
“The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to regulations,” the group said.
“The NRA is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review whether these devices comply with federal law.”
US federal law bans private citizens from owning automatic firearms manufactured after 1986 and requires a special licence to own those made before that date. However, bump stocks are not banned.
A comparison by The New York Times said while automatic rifles could fire 98 shots in seven seconds, in the Las Vegas shooting, semi-automatic rifles used with a bump stock fired 90 shots in 10 seconds.
As the NRA released the statement, multiple conservative lawmakers and the White House said they were willing to look into legislation to restrict the device.
“We think we should have that conversation, and we want to be part of it moving forward,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a press briefing on Thursday.
But, despite its approval for anti-bump stock regulation, the NRA said “banning guns from law-abiding Americans based on the criminal act of a mad man will do nothing to prevent future attacks”. Bernama