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Even the trigger-happy NRA accepts curb on kit to make instant machine gun
National Rifle Association’s usually militant chief Wayne LaPierre said Thursday the gun rights group would not necessarily oppose regulation of bump stocks, the devices that enabled rampage killer Stephen Paddock to rain so much death on Las Vegas concertgoers.
BREAKING THE silence that it held for four days after the Las Vegas massacre, the country’s largest gun lobby said Thursday gadgets that turn regular rifles into machine guns should be regulated more tightly.
In another surprise, House Republicans, who routinely oppose any form of gun control legislation, said they were working on their own version of a ban on bump stocks, which convert semiautomatic rifles into near-machine guns.
The National Rifle Association statement was considered stunning for a group almost always against gun control regulations, including after 20 innocent children and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012 and the over 1,000 mass shootings across the country since.
“The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semiautomatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” NRA leaders Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox said in a statement.
LaPierre has been known as a strident defender of Second Amendment rights — blaming the media and violent videogames for gun crime, as opposed to easy access to the weapons themselves.
The NRA already does not allow bump stock devices at its own gun ranges. LaPierre and the NRA appeared to show a sliver of a conscience after a long-fought effort by the Daily News calling on them to end their campaign of fear and back common-sense gun control. The lobbying group hasn’t entirely turned over a new leaf — it also used its statement to push proposed legislation that people licensed in one state legally carry a concealed weapon in another state without being arrested. LaPierre also sought to soften the group’s stance during an appearance on Fox News. “We didn’t say ban, we didn’t say confiscate,” he told Sean Hannity, before accusing the media and Democrats of using the tragedy in Las Vegas to “piggyback their agenda to ban guns.” One sponsor of the House bill against the gadgets, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), said he had spoken to gun manufacturers who told him the stocks should be illegal. “For the first time in decades, there is growing bipartisan consensus for firearm reform, a polarizing issue that has deeply divided Republicans and Democrats,” Curbelo said. A second sponsor, Rep. Seth Moulton (DMass.), said, “It’s time for members of Congress to find the courage to come together and finally do something to help stop the epidemic of mass shootings.”
Their move followed a bill introduced Wednesday by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to ban the devices.
Las Vegas killer Stephen Paddock used the bump stock devices to rain carnage down on a musical festival, murdering 58 people. Nearly 500 others were injured — either shot, trampled or hit by shrapnel.
The White House said Thursday it was open to “conversation” about the deadly devices.
“Right now, our focus over the last couple days has been on healing and uniting the country,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
“The investigation still continues to be in very early stages. We know that both — members of both parties and multiple organizations — are planning to take a look at bump stocks. We welcome that and would like to be part of that conversation . . . We’re certainly open to that.”
Paddock, 64, had 12 of the bump devices on rifles seized by police after he smashed two windows in a 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and sprayed a barrage of bullets down on 22,000 concertgoers at the outdoor concert.
He used high-capacity magazines, which have also been targeted by gun-control groups for elimination. The combination enabled him to unleash hundreds of rounds at the rate of nine bullets per second — nearly as fast as a machine gun.
The federal of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives approved the devices in 2010 and 2012, after one of the manufacturers dubiously claimed it was designed to help people “with limited mobility of the hands.”
Cox and LaPierre referred to that in their statement. “Despite the fact that the Obama administration approved the sale of bump fire stocks on at least two occasions, the National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law,” they wrote.
Ari Freilich, staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the developments are positive.
“We’re hopeful this signals a broader bipartisan commitment to examine all the factors that made the Las Vegas shooting so stunningly deadly — including the availability of bump stocks,” he said.Freilich called for more funding for the ATF, and said the Trump administration should allow the Centers for Disease Control to research gun violence.
In their statement, the NRA’s LaPierre and Cox also called for congressional approval of the National Right to Carry Reciprocity bill, which would require states to honor carry permits issued by other states.
Currently, someone who is legally licensed in, for example, Pennsylvania can be arrested and charged with illegal weapons possession if they are caught with a gun in New York.
Gun control groups and many law-enforcement agencies strenuously oppose the measure. “The NRA is continuing to back that dangerous, ill-advised legislation,” Freilich said.
The leading bump stock manufacturer, Texas-based SlideFire, Inc. did not respond to inquiries. It posted a notice to its website saying it has stopped taking orders from the public.