Two House members said Friday they plan on introducing a bipartisan bill to ban bump stocks.
“Since 1986, automatic weapons are illegal in this country yet these devices allow people to turn semi-automatic weapons, legal weapons, into illegal weapons,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo, Florida Republican, said Friday morning on CNN.
He is sponsoring the bill with Rep. Seth Moulton, Massachusetts Democrat, to ban the device. Their legislation will be focused just on the bump stock tool, but Mr. Curbelo said there are other areas of possible bipartisan agreement over gun laws in the wake of the Las Vegas tragedy.
“This might be a small, but I think, a very important step toward moving to a more rational conversation about sensible gun policy in this country,” Mr. Curbelo said.
Mr. Moulton said the ban has to be passed by law and not through a regulation from the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau because that agency works within the laws as they’re written.
“The problem is that the ATF rule that, under the law as passed, these devices are legal. They were doing their regulatory job of interpreting existing law, and if that’s their interpretation, then obviously we need to change the law,” he said on CNN.
SEE ALSO: NRA backs ‘bump stock’ ban, Donald Trump open to restrictions
The shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday night left 58 people dead and 489 injured. The gunman, Stephen Paddock, had a stockpile of 23 guns in his room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Police found another 19 at his Mesquite, Nevada, home and seven at a Reno property.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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