In the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas this past Sunday, the debate over gun control has been reignited with partisan division at a fever pitch. Now, after renewed outrage over mass shootings in America grows, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has announced that it wants “additional regulations” on devices that boost the firing rates of semi-automatic weapons, like the “bump stock” used by shooter Stephen Paddock to kill up to 58 people and wound over 500 others.
In a statement from NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre and chief lobbyist Chris Cox, they urged the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to review the legality of bump stocks, but stopped short of pushing Congress to pass a bill banning or regulating the devices.
“Despite the fact that the Obama administration approved the sale of bump fire stocks on at least two occasions, the National Rifle Association is calling on the [ATF] to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law,” the statement said according to POLITICO. “The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.”
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In addition and true to form, the NRA called for restrictions on concealed carry laws, with the intent of having state-specific concealed carry permits to be valid nationally.
The statement comes as a bipartisan effort to regulate the devices grows on Capitol Hill.
From CNBC:
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Congress should “look into” whether to make changes around bump stocks. Sen. John Cornyn — the No. 2 Republican in the Senate — on Thursday said “it’s worth our serious consideration” to ban the tools.
When asked about growing support for a ban on the devices, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump is “open to having that conversation,” but added that the President is “a strong supporter of the Second Amendment” and any discussion of gun laws is premature.
