Giffords Applauds Representatives Cicilline & Titus for Introducing a Bill to Permanently Ban Bump Stocks
July 2, 2019 — Giffords , the gun violence prevention organization led by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, applauded Representatives David Cicilline (D-RI) and Dina Titus (D-NV) for introducing a bill to permanently ban the manufacture, possession, sale, or transport of bump stocks and acceleration devices like the ones used in the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting two years ago.
“After we learned the horrific scale of the Las Vegas shooting was amplified by bump stocks, leaders should have moved swiftly to stop them from falling into dangerous hands,” said David Chipman, Giffords Senior Policy Advisor and former ATF Special Agent of 25 years. “But for too long, lawmakers dragged their feet while bump stocks remained on the shelf. While the nation took a first step toward banning them by giving ATF the power to regulate these devices, it’s not enough. In an effort to avoid prolonged judicial disputes, we applaud Representatives Cicilline and Titus for stepping up to lead a new effort to ban bump stocks and all devices manufactured to allow shooters to accelerate the speed at which they can fire a gun.”
The High Speed Gunfire Prevention Act prohibits the sale of bump stocks and any devices that are designed to accelerate the fire of semiautomatic weapons. When a weapon is modified with a bump stock, the shooter can fire at a rate of 400 to 800 rounds per minute, mirroring the rate of fire of fully automatic weapons that fire multiple bullets with a single trigger pull. The bill also bans trigger cranks, a rotating-trigger actuator attachment, and other devices that allow shooters to discharge several bullets per revolution similar to a Gatling gun.
In December, the Justice Department issued a rule clarifying that existing prohibitions against fully automatic weapons also cover bump stocks, which took effect on March 26 after several months of litigation. If enacted, the High Speed Gunfire Prevention Act would codify this rule and also apply the prohibition to all devices which accelerate a semiautomatic weapon’s rate of fire.