The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
US rifle group urges extra gun regulations
Mass shooting prompts call for review of legislation
The “bump stocks” device that the Las Vegas gunman used to turn semiautomatic rifles into fully automated weapons should be “subject to additional regulations”, the National Rifle Association has said.
The NRA said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law.
The organisation, which holds a powerful sway over members of Congress, dismissed some of the initial response from lawmakers who pressed for more gun control after Stephen Paddock shot dead 58 people at a music festival.
The NRA said: “Banning guns from law-abiding Americans based on the criminal act of a madman will do nothing to prevent future attacks.”
The White House said President Donald Trump welcomed a review of US policy on so-called bump stock devices that legally make semi-automatic rifles into faster-firing automatic weapons.
Presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that “we’re certainly open to having that conversation”.
Her remarks are part of a growing bipartisan chorus of calls to take a step in the direction of regulating guns in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre.
The killer in Las Vegas apparently used the legal bump stock devices on legal rifles, essentially converting them into automatic weapons, which are banned.
That allowed him to spray gunfire into the crowd below much more quickly.