Justice Department Announces Ban on Bump Stocks
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that bump stocks, which allowed a semi-automatic weapon to be considered a “machine gun” under federal law, are now banned.
The Justice Department amended regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which ruled that bump-stock-type devices on a semi-automatic weapon allow a shooter to fire the weapon continuously with a single pull of the trigger.
“President Donald Trump is a law and order president, who has signed into law millions of dollars in funding for law enforcement officers in our schools, and under his strong leadership, the Department of Justice has prosecuted more gun criminals than ever before as we target violent criminals,” acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said in a news release. “We are faithfully following President Trump’s leadership by making clear that bump stocks, which turn semi-automatics into machine guns, are illegal, and we will continue to take illegal guns off of our streets.”
Bump stocks were thrust into the spotlight following the Las Vegas massacre in October last year. The gunman, who killed 58 people, used the rapid-fire devices to spray bullets into a crowded outdoor concert from the window of his hotel room. . .
The Justice Department “reviewed more than 186,000 public comments and made the decision to make clear that the term ‘machine gun’ as used in the National Firearms Act (NFA), as amended, and Gun Control Act (GCA), as amended, includes all bump-stock-type devices that harness recoil energy to facilitate the continuous operation of a semiautomatic firearm after a single pull of the trigger,” the release said. (Read more from “Justice Department Announces Ban on Bump Stocks” HERE)
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