Just shy of a month of the Las Vegas mass shooting that left close to 60 dead and over 500 injured, Democrats and Republicans have agreed that bump stocks need to be more strictly regulated. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democrat Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada submitted the aptly-named Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act today. The bill would put the controversial bump stock device, which allows semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly like fully-automatic weapons, in roughly the same category as silencers and actual machine guns.
“We must do everything in our power to prevent the kind of evil we see in horrifying incidents like the Las Vegas shootings,” Rep. Fitzpatrick said. If passed, the legislation would require existing owners and new purchasers of bump stocks to register the devices with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), undergo a background check, and pay a $200 fee in the process. That’s close to same amount that the bump stock costs to purchase — typically, the devices run about $150.
It’s promising that the bipartisan bill already has so much traction. Republicans have traditionally been reluctant to back gun control measures, and an attempt earlier this month by several state Attorneys General stalled, as did talk of a a Senate bill to ban the devices. However, even the National Rifle Association agreed that the government should look into ways to regulate bump stocks. It seems that Rep. Titus wasn’t only speaking hopefully when she stated, “I believe a majority of Americans would agree anyone who wants a device that modifies a firearm to shoot hundreds of rounds per minute should undergo thorough background checks and oversight.”
(Via Las Vegas Review-Journal)