US to study legality of bump stocks used in Las Vegas massacre

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department announced Tuesday that it is reviewing the legality of ‘bump stocks’, two months after a man shot down 58 concert- goers from a Las Vegas hotel window using the devices.

The Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — which regulates fi rearms but not gun accessories — will determine whether the devices, which make a semiautomatic weapon perform like an automatic weapon, are illegal.

“Possessing fi rearm parts that are used exclusively in converting a weapon into a machine gun is illegal, except for certain limited circumstances,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“Today we begin the process of determining whether or not bump stocks are covered by this prohibition.”

Bump stocks were little-known outside the fi rearms community until Oct 1, when Stephen Paddock, a 64-year- old real estate investor and gambler, opened fi re from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, killing 58 and wounding scores more at a country music concert below.

Paddock, whose motive remains a mystery, had equipped 12 of his AR-15- style assault rifles with bump stocks. Using the spring effect of the stock against the shooter’s shoulder, the devices allow a person to fire at a rate of hundreds of rounds a minute, nearly the pace of a machine gun.

Automatic weapons are illegal in the US. But bump stocks are not regulated because they are seen as accessories to guns rather than functional parts under ATF regulations.

Sessions said the department and ATF had to go through a formal rule-making process that allows comment from the public and the fi rearms industry.

“ATF and the Department will proceed in accordance with this process as quickly as possible,” they said in a statement. — AFP