DeSantis vows to repeal federal bump stock ban, but he hasn’t made it budge in Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month said that as president he would repeal a federal ban on bump stocks, the devices that allow semiautomatic rifles to rapidly fire without multiple pulls of a trigger.
But even if he succeeded, Florida would still have its own ban in state statute — one that DeSantis has not made an effort to repeal as governor.
DeSantis made the comments at an event in Iowa last weekend. He also said he would repeal
President Joe Biden’s restriction on pistol braces, which allow a weapon to be fired with one hand.
The federal bump stock ban was created with a rule during President Donald Trump’s administration.
DeSantis said the gun orders were unconstitutional because they created legislation without congressional authorization, setting aside the issue of whether they violate the Second Amendment.
But Adzi Vokhiwa, the federal affairs director at Giffords, an anti-gun violence organization, said the federal firearm agency has the right to review and regulate firearm technology, as Trump directed.
The use of a bump stock accelerates a weapon’s rate of fire, meaning it can fire multiple shots with one pull of a trigger, Vokhiwa said. She said that makes a gun almost like an automatic weapon.
“The rule is in line with existing law that regulates machine guns, and that’s ultimately where the courts have landed,” Vokhiwa said.
Two federal appeals courts have ruled against the bump stock ban, and the Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the ruling.
Florida’s bump stock ban was implemented months before the federal ban was put into place. It was part of a mammoth piece of legislation in response to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where a gunman killed 17 people and injured 17 others. The bill created red-flag laws, prohibited someone younger than 21 from purchasing a rifle and banned bump stocks.
At the time, DeSantis was running for governor and said he would have vetoed the bill.
But in office, as a governor who has often led the way on legislation, DeSantis has not made any ma