The National Rifle Association has called for “additional regulations” on bump-stocks, a rapid fire device used by the Las Vegas massacre gunman.<\/p>\n
The group said: “Devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.”<\/p>\n
Republicans have said they would consider banning the tool, despite years of resisting any gun control.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers plan to hold hearings and consider a bill to outlaw the device.<\/p>\n
The NRA called on Thursday for regulators to “immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law”.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump later told reporters his administration would be looking into whether to ban them “in the next short period of time”.<\/p>\n
“In the aftermath of the evil and senseless attack in Las Vegas, the American people are looking for answers as to how future tragedies can be prevented,” NRA chiefs Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox wrote in the statement.<\/p>\n
They criticised politicians who are calling for gun control, writing that “banning guns from law-abiding Americans based on the criminal act of a madman will do nothing to prevent future attacks”.<\/p>\n
The statement, the organisation’s first since Sunday’s attack in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and nearly 500 injured, noted that bump-stocks were approved by the Obama administration’s Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.<\/p>\n
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, who spoke to reporters moments after the NRA statement was issued, said: “Members of both parties and multiple organisations are planning to take a look at bump-stocks. We welcome that and would like to be part of that conversation.”<\/p>\n
In the same statement the NRA urged Congress to pass their longstanding pet proposal to expand gun rights nationwide, so-called right-to-carry reciprocity.<\/p>\n
The lobby group wants gun-owners with concealed-carry permits from one state to be allowed to take their weapons into any other US state, even if it has stricter firearms limits.<\/p>\n
Another NRA policy priority, the deregulation of silencer attachments, appears to have stalled in Congress in the wake of the Las Vegas attack, after Republican sponsors withdrew their bill.<\/p>\n
A bill to ban bump-stocks was submitted to the US Senate on Wednesday by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein.<\/p>\n
A Republican-led version of the bill may be submitted for debate as early as Thursday, Florida Republican Carlos Curbelo told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said there was growing bipartisan consensus and that his office had been “flooded” with calls from other lawmakers interested in the bill.<\/p>\n
“I think we are on the verge of a breakthrough when it comes to sensible gun policy,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Bump-fire stocks, also called bump-stocks and slide-fire adapters, allow semi-automatic rifles to fire at a high rate, similar to a machine gun.<\/p>\n
But they can be obtained without the extensive background checks required of automatic weapons.<\/p>\n
Stephen Paddock, the gunman in Las Vegas, had fixed the accessories to 12 rifles used in his attack.<\/p>\n
Bump-stocks typically cost less than $200 (\u00a3150) and allow nearly 100 high-velocity bullets to be fired in just seven seconds, according to one company advert.<\/p>\n
One of the most popular manufacturers of bump-stocks, Slide Fire, said they had sold out “due to extreme high demands” since the Las Vegas shooting.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Rifle Association has called for “additional regulations” on bump-stocks, a rapid fire device used by the Las Vegas massacre gunman. The group said: “Devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.” Republicans have said they would consider banning the tool, despite years of resisting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[497,498],"yoast_head":"\n