Delegation open to bump stock ban talks
Several members of Oklahoma’s all-GOP-congressional delegation expressed a willingness Thursday to consider bans on so-called bump stocks, a gun accessory used in Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
The conservative delegation’s approach to the bump stock debate differs from its usual opposition to gun control measures. It follows the worst mass shooting in modern American history, possibly made worse by shooter Stephen Paddock’s use of bump stocks, which convert a semi-automatic gun into something resembling an
automatic gun.
“Although I need to study the issue more, there is something innately wrong about a technology that takes something that is legal and makes it illegal,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore.
Though automatic firearms are not strictly illegal in the United States, they have been heavily regulated and traced since the 1930s, making them largely unavailable to all but collectors.
“I am open to the debate on banning the product,” Cole said of bump stocks, “but only if the legislation is narrowly focused and does not morph into a broader gun control measure that would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
Rep. Steve Russell, R-Oklahoma City, owns a small rifle manufacturer. His office did not respond to questions about whether the company sells bump stocks.
“The issue with mechanical devices that allow a full-auto effect — I think we have to examine that,” he said on Fox Business. “The ATF has looked at that over their history ... so we certainly need to look at some of that and examine it.”
At other times in the interview, Russell seemed outright opposed to banning bump stocks.
“Going after devices or going after particular firearms is not the solution,” he said. “When we had 9/11, we had to examine our civil liberties and terrorism, acts of terrorism, and we as a public said, ‘Okay, who are these people, how can they hurt us and how can we as a public protect ourselves from their intentions?’ As we examine these types of shootings, we have to take it comprehensively like that.”
At least twice this week, Russell mentioned a massacre in Sweden involving “70 children and half a dozen adults on an island” despite that nation’s gun control laws.
“It’s not just about devices or gun laws,” he told Fox News Radio. “I mean, take Sweden for example, they have total gun control in that country and yet you had a mass murder of 77 individuals, nearly all of them children, a few adults mixed in.”
Sweden has witnessed no such crime in modern history. The congressman was likely referring to attacks in Norway in 2011 that left 77 people dead, most of them on the island of Utoya.
“It’s important we don’t jettison our Constitution while we’re trying to protect the public from these heinous and violent acts,” Russell said, adding that changes to hotel security and other matters should also be taken into consideration.
Both of Oklahoma’s senators said they are open to a conversation about bump stocks.
“I want to hear more about bump stocks and how they operate,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa. “I hadn’t heard about them until this week and they have only been approved by the ATF since 2010. This is a worthwhile conversation to have centered around our Second Amendment rights under the Constitution.”
Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, told CBS he is open to regulation of bump stocks but believes more details of the Las Vegas shooting are needed before legislation is enacted.
Former Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican, said bump stocks “shouldn’t be the focus.”
“Whether that’s legal or not, illegal people will get illegal things and do bad things,” Coburn said Thursday in an interview with The
Oklahoman, accusing Congress of “responding to the mass hysteria” rather than real problems.
“The real problem is violence in our society,” he said. “The real problem is the generation of children, no matter what their race, that are raised without a father. The real problems are deeper than what politicians respond to.”
I am open to the debate on banning the product... but only if the legislation is narrowly focused and does not morph into a broader gun control measure that would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.” Tom Cole, U.S. Rep.