LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada Rep. Dina Titus has introduced the Closing of the Bump Stock Loophole Act on Wednesday ahead of the 1 October date, as we approach four years after the tragic shooting on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Titus' office says the bill has received the backing of major gun violence prevention groups when it comes to renewing a concerted effort to ban such dangerous devices.
“Machine guns have been illegal in the U.S. for decades. Yet bump stocks have allowed gun manufacturers to circumnavigate the law to produce fully automatic weapons like the ones used on 1 October.," Titus said. "Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act builds on proven existing law by requiring bump stocks to be registered under the National Firearms Act, subjecting these dangerous devices to the strictest of regulation.
Bloomberg Law explains how a federal bump stock, devices that increase the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons, ban was blocked earlier this year by a divided appeals court.
Titus is a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and shared the following on the bill being introduced:
- This bill would regulate bump stocks like machine guns, meaning that they must be registered with ATF under the National Firearms Act, and it would generally be illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess new bump stocks for civilian use. However, bump stocks that are already in existence would not have to be destroyed but would have to be registered with ATF within one year of the bill’s enactment.
- The industry would not be able to design around this law, since it covers not just devices that are accessories sold separately from firearms, but also parts and modifications that accomplish the same goal in the same manner as a bump stock - increasing the rate of a firearm by eliminating the need for every single function of the trigger. This language is the most explicit description of these devices that exists.
- Additionally, this bill would allow people the opportunity to register bump stocks they currently own with ATF.
"Four years ago, we witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in our country's history and the horrifically destructive power of bump stocks that were behind it. Despite ATF's efforts to rightfully regulate these devices as machine guns, federal courts have unfortunately prevented the ATF's rule banning bump stocks to fully take effect,” said Adzi Vokhiwa, Federal Affairs Director for Giffords. “It is past time for Congress to take action and regulate bump stocks once and for all."
