Gubernatorial candidate and Georgia Senator Michael Williams is staging a bump stock giveaway to publicize his position on the controversial firearm accessory used by Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock to modify his semi-automatic weapons to fire like fully automatic ones. Williams not only disagrees with calls to ban bump stocks, but he wants to give one away to “one lucky winner,” a move that calls attention not only to his stance on gun control but also to his campaign against several other GOP contenders.
“Georgia’s gun owners deserve a governor who will stand with them when liberals and Hollywood elites attack our fundamental rights,” explained Williams, according to The Hill. “That’s why I am standing for the second amendment and giving away a bump stock as a show of support.”
Some gun advocates, including Senator Williams, note that bump stocks may decrease accuracy and the shooter’s ability to aim consistently, which in theory might have resulted in fewer Las Vegas casualties. But the device also makes legal semi-automatics behave more like illegal fully automatics, and they obviously can have a big impact in settings like the Route 66 Harvest Festival where Paddock’s goal was to spray the crowd with bullets, rather than carefully pick off specific individuals from a distance.
“The tragedy in Las Vegas broke my heart, but any talk of banning or regulating bump stocks is merely cheap political lip service from career politicians,” said Williams. “In reality, the bump stock is the new, shiny object politicians are using to deceive voters into believing they are taking action against gun violence.”
Yet it’s not just career politicians, liberals, and celebrities who have taken a stand. Some of the Las Vegas survivors are suing bump stock manufacturers. And though Williams is a member of the GOP, a few of his fellow Republicans agree the Senate should look into the matter. Even the NRA, which tends to go on the offensive after mass shootings, has called for a federal review of bump stocks that will look into their legality and to what extent they should be regulated. With opposition like that, it looks like Senator Williams might not get the bump to his cause, or his campaign, that he’s hoping for.
(Via The Hill)