Senate Democrats ram through new gun control measure

Senate Democrats moved to advance legislation codifying a federal ban on bump stocks days after the Supreme Court overturned a statute prohibiting the devices.

Members of the Supreme Court ruled last week that bump stocks, which can be used with semiautomatic firearms to increase firing rates by harnessing the recoil of the weapon, cannot be classified as machine guns under current federal law, thereby striking down a rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. New Mexico Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich therefore introduced legislation to statutorily ban the sale of deadly bump stock devices.

We cant wait for another tragedy to act: Americans are counting on Congress to ban bump stocks now, Heinrich commented in a statement. Theres no good reason any person should possess a device that turns a firearm into a machine gun. Im grateful to my colleagues for recognizing that truth and for joining us in the fight to pass this common-sense legislation to make our communities safer.

The bill was also sponsored by Nevada Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, and twenty other members of the Senate.

The legislation would amend the federal criminal code to ban the import, sale, transfer, and possession of any device primarily designed, or redesigned, to increase the rate of fire when attached to a semiautomatic firearm, as well as any semiautomatic firearm that has been modified to increase the rate of fire, according to a fact sheet about the proposed statute. Gun Owners of America meanwhile cautioned that the bill is a near-total semiautomatic firearms ban.

Heinrich condemned the Supreme Court decision last week and urged fellow members of Congress to approve his bump stock legislation. Todays pro-death decision from an out of touch Supreme Court majority just made bump stocks legal again. Innocent Americans will die because of this decision, the lawmaker asserted. Bump stocks serve no legitimate purpose. Congress must act now to pass my legislation to ban these deadly devices once and for all.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, announced that the upper chamber would debate the bill after the MAGA Supreme Court showed the nation how dangerously far right they will go on the Second Amendment.

Several states have enacted their own bans on bump stocks in the years since the Las Vegas massacre which prompted the federal rule: states such as Vermont, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Washington, and Nevada have successfully passed bills outlawing the devices. The decision from the Supreme Court will not impact those state laws.

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