Giffords Applauds Hawaii Legislature for Joining List of States Taking Concrete Action to Pass Bill Banning Bump Stocks
April 27, 2018— Giffords , the gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Captain Mark Kelly, praised the Hawaii legislature for approving legislation banning bump stocks. SB 2046 bans the manufacturing, importation and possession of bump stocks in the state of Hawaii.
“While Congress drags its feet, states like Hawaii are leading the way to keep bump stocks away from dangerous people,” said Nico Bocour, State Legislative Director at Giffords. “There is widespread consensus that bump stocks are incredibly lethal devices that should not be sitting on shelves for people to buy. The whole country saw the death and destruction that use of bump stocks caused in Las Vegas. No one wants a repeat of that tragedy.The legislature’s effort to enact this bill demonstrates that they are a leader in gun violence prevention. We applaud Senator Rhoads for championing this bump stock ban and joining states from all areas of the country who are making progress on this issue.”
In October 2017, a gunman in Las Vegas used multiple bump stock devices to convert semi-automatic rifles into weapons that fired 9 shots per second. It was the deadliest mass shooting attack in modern history. With the Hawaii legislature’s action, they join more than a dozen states across the country that have begun to take action to pass legislation limiting these dangerous devices. That includes Vermont , Florida , Massachusetts , Maryland , and New Jersey where bills were signed into law by Republican officials with backing from Giffords.
After the Las Vegas shooting, Giffords and SiX Action , an advocacy organization committed to achieving change at the state level, released a state legislative toolkit for addressing bump stocks detailing legislative options for lawmakers who want to take action. States can protect their communities by looking to other legislation that has been enacted or introduced at the state and federal level.
Related resources:
Background information on bump stocks:
- According to ATF, even when a bump stock is attached to a semi-automatic rifle, the gun is still not a machine gun, since the trigger has to function once for each bullet that leaves the barrel. This means that these deadly devices are not subject to federal registration requirements when they are manufactured or transferred. California law currently bans bump stocks and other devices under its multiburst trigger activators prohibition.
- Even though they are not regulated like machine guns, bump stocks allow a person to hold a finger steady, and simply “bump” the gun against his or her shoulder back into the trigger. The person does not have to pull the trigger each time. Bump firing is the act of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to fire shots in rapid succession to simulate a fully automatic rate of fire.
- Bump stocks—specialized rifle stocks that allow shooters to more accurately bump fire rifles without compromising accuracy—are legal to be sold and not regulated by the federal government. The Slide Fire® bump stock, for example, was ruled by ATF in 2010 as an accessory “intended to assist persons whose hands have limited mobility to Bump Fire an AR-15 type rifle” and did not qualify for regulation under the Gun Control Act of 1968 or National Firearms Act.
- Mass shooters choose guns that allow for rapid-fire because they increase casualties. For example, the TEC DC-9 assault pistol used to kill eight and wound six in a mass shooting at the Pettit and Martin law firm in San Francisco in 1993 was equipped with a Hellfire trigger activator.
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Giffords is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives from gun violence. Led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, Giffords inspires the courage of people from all walks of life to make America safer.