(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, has joined other senators in introducing a bipartisan bill to ban the sale of bump stocks and other devices or modifications that effectively turn semi-automatic guns into fully automatic weapons.
Bump stocks, which are among devices that increase a weapon’s rate of fire, were used in the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival mass shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, on the Las Vegas Strip. Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old gambler staying at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, smashed the window of his suite on the 32nd floor and took aim at a crowd of 22,000. He killed 60 people at the open-air music festival and himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth and injured more than 800 people as he fired more than 1,100 rounds. The massacre has been called the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
“Bump stocks like the one used by the shooter have no place in our communities,” Cortez Masto said in a news release. “I will never forget the events of October 1, 2017, and will never stop fighting to permanently ban these dangerous devices.”
The Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts Act is being introduced by Cortez Masto and U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, is a cosponsor.
U.S. Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania, introduced companion legislation in the House.
“Nearly eight years after the Harvest Festival massacre, we still do not have a federal law banning these deadly devices,” Titus said. “Bump stocks continue to pose a threat to innocent lives, and Congress must act. Without a federal law firmly banning them, federal regulations and court rulings could allow bump stocks on our streets and in our neighborhoods, raising the risk of more mass shootings.”
The Center Square couldn’t reach the Nevada Firearms Coalition for comment.
