There’s sure to be controversy over President Trump’s recent recommendation to place a ban on bump stocks.
Bump stocks are devices that allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire hundreds of rounds per minute. They first received widespread attention from the media after Stephen Paddock used bump stocks to kill 58 people in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
While semi-automatic firearms require a trigger pull for each round to fire, bump stocks uses the recoil of the gun to quickly and repeatedly “bump” the trigger into a shooter’s finger. This essentially turns it into an automatic gun.
A memorandum signed by Trump recommends that Attorney General Jeff Sessions propose regulations to make bump stocks illegal.
The announcement came just a few days after a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
“We cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make a difference,” Trump said at a White House event honoring first responders.
“After the deadly shooting in Las Vegas, I directed [Sessions] to clarify whether certain bump stock devices like the one used in Las Vegas are illegal under current law,” he continued.
“That process began in December, and just a few moments ago I signed a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns,” Trump said.
The regulations have to first be published in the Federal Register and will be subject to public comment before they can be implemented
“I expect that these critical regulations will be finalized, Jeff, very soon.”
