NRA, White House open to regulations on ‘bump stocks’
The White House and the National Rifle Association signaled Thursday they are open to the idea of regulating the use of “bump stocks,” the rifle attachments the Las Vegas shooter used to rapidly fire bullets on a crowd of concertgoers Sunday night.
“We’ll be looking into that over the next short period of time,” President Trump told reporters at the White House.
Earlier, press secretary Sarah Sanders said, “We’re open to having that conversation.”
As Sanders spoke, the NRA — which has traditionally opposed gun control efforts — expressed support for new regulations on bump stocks.
“Devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” the group said in a statement.
The Las Vegas attack triggered some debate over how bump stock restrictions should be enacted. The suspect, Stephen Paddock, killed nearly 60 people and wounded about 500 others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Some lawmakers have proposed congressional legislation, while the NRA and others say the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should issue regulations.
As Congressional Democrats proposed a legislative ban on bump stocks, members of the Republican majority say they may be amenable.
“Clearly that’s something we need to look into,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the sec- ond ranking Republican in the Senate, has said he would support hearings on bump stocks.
A bill proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would make it illegal to sell or trade devices designed to “accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun.”
The bump stock can be attached to a semi-automatic rifle and replaces the regular stock. It slides back and forth while the gun is being fired, using the kickback — the “bump” — the shooter feels while firing.
Trump administration officials noted the ATF declined to ban bump stocks in 2010 because they had no mechanical parts or springs, a decision that could be revisited. The 2010 ruling, issued by John Spencer, then chief of the Firearms Technology Branch, determined the bump stock is a “firearm part and is not regulated as (an actual) firearm under the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.”
All of the issues need to be examined in-depth before the Trump administration takes a position, Sanders said, adding the focus right now should be on “healing and uniting the country” after the shooting.