Trump’s Justice Department Takes Actual Steps Toward Banning Bump Stocks

Emma Stefansky
Updated
Bump stock gun attachments have the ability to turn semiautomatic firearms into automatic weapons.

It only took yet another highly publicized school shooting to galvanize the Trump administration into action regarding gun control laws in America. On Saturday morning, the Department of Justice issued a press release announcing that they had introduced proposed legislation to change the definition of “machine gun” to include guns with bump stocks, gun attachments that turn semiautomatic weapons into automatic ones. If the notice is cleared by the Office of Management and Budget, bump stocks would become as illegal as automatic weapons in all fifty states.

The release states that a notice has been submitted by the D.O.J. to “clarify that the definition of ‘machinegun’ in the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act includes bump stock type devices, and that federal law accordingly prohibits the possession, sale, or manufacture of such devices.” Bump stocks are gunstocks designed to make bump firing easier—that is, they allow the gunman to use the gun’s recoil to press the trigger faster than a human finger can, simulating the rapid-succession fire of an automatic weapon. Twelve bump stock devices were found at the scene of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting in October.

The attachments are illegal in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and have been banned in California since 1990. Following the Las Vegas shooting, the National Rifle Association proposed that bump stock devices should be subject to regulations, and in February Donald Trump declared that the Justice Department should issue regulations that would make them illegal.

“President Trump is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety and security of every American and he has directed us to propose a regulation addressing bump stocks,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in the Justice Department’s press release. “To that end, the Department of Justice has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a notice of a proposed regulation to clarify that the National Firearms and Gun Control Act defines ‘machinegun’ to include bump stock type devices.”