STATEMENT: Giffords Responds to Trump Administration’s Plan to Announce Long-Delayed Ban on Bump Stocks
ATF will regulate bump stocks as machine guns under new rule, is likely to face legal challenges in court
More than a year after the Las Vegas shooting, the majority in Congress has not held a vote on any legislation banning bump stocks
November 28, 2018 — Giffords , the gun safety organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Captain Mark Kelly, reacted to breaking news this evening that President Trump will soon announce that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) will ban the production and distribution of bump stocks by labeling them as machine guns under the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. The NFA will now include conversion devices like bump fire stocks that convert a semi-automatic rifle into the functional equivalent of a fully automatic rifle, though the rule is likely to face court challenges.
Statement from David Chipman, Giffords Senior Policy Advisor and retired ATF Special Agent of 25 years:
“More than a year after bump stocks were used to cause the worst mass shooting in modern American history, and while mass shootings like Thousand Oaks continue to happen, the Trump Administration has done nothing to stop the violence. During this time, bump stocks have remained available for purchase—and in danger of falling into the wrong hands. This could have been done more quickly and effectively were it not for lawmakers’ insistence on passing the buck. The new rule only keeps the door open for prolonged judicial disputes—leaving these harmful devices in the market. This action won’t bring the progress we need—that will take an act of Congress.
“Both before and after the Las Vegas shooting, we have seen mass shooting after mass shooting: Parkland, Pittsburgh, Thousand Oaks. The American public no longer feels safe because individuals who shouldn’t have access to firearms are able to get their hands on a gun. Those shootings were far too deadly because individuals were able to access assault weapons. Banning bump stocks is a positive step, but it is not enough. It won’t stop these mass shootings, which is why Congress must act swiftly to pass comprehensive solutions to prevent gun violence.”
On December 26, 2017, ATF took the first step toward reclassifying bump stocks by issuing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to request information on the market for bump stocks, with a suggestion that it may one day define “machinegun” to include bump stocks. This was in response to Congressional failure to move forward with votes on multiple bills that were introduced after the tragedy in Las Vegas.
After the first round of feedback to ATF, Giffords organized a way for supporters to take action and demand regulation of these dangerous devices. These efforts helped change the course of the comment period. The results reversed after the second round of feedback, with 73 percent of comments to ATF favoring regulation.
The call for a bump stocks ban arose after a gunman opened fire from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel into the 22,000 person crowd at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 on October 1, 2017. The gunman fired more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition in 11 minutes, using semi-automatic rifles modified with dangerous firearm accessories designed to dramatically accelerate the rate of gunfire, commonly known as “bump fire stocks.” These devices are intended to circumvent the restrictions on possession of fully automatic firearms in the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934 by allowing an individual to modify a semi-automatic rifle in such a manner that it operates with a similar rate of fire as a fully automatic rifle, posing a substantial risk to public safety.
Eight in ten Americans, including 77% of Republicans, support banning these dangerous devices. Nearly three-fourths of voters in gun-owning households feel the same way. Broad bipartisan support to legislatively regulate or ban bump stocks is evident in state legislatures, law enforcement, and communities across the United States. While Congress has yet to take action, states across the country have taken meaningful and bipartisan action to ban bump stocks. Republican governors in both Massachusetts and New Jersey have signed bills into law, and legislatures in an additional 25 states have introduced versions of bump stocks bans.
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