In response to this shooting, effective March 26, 2019, the ATF amended its regulations and now classifies bump stocks as machine guns, effectively banning them. He used those weapons to carry out the deadliest mass shooting attack in modern American history. In October 2017, a gunman in Las Vegas used multiple bump fire devices to convert semi-automatic rifles into weapons that fired nine shots per second. By harnessing the weapon’s recoil or kickback, the bump stock causes the trigger to be engaged many times faster than a human could otherwise fire.
These devices, including bump-fire (or bump stock) and trigger crank devices, were designed to skirt the limits of federal law because historically they were not considered machine guns under federal law.īump-fire devices replace a semi-automatic rifle’s standard shoulder stock and allow the weapon to smoothly slide (or “bump”) back and forth very rapidly between the shooter’s shoulder and trigger finger. To circumvent the significant restrictions on machine guns, the gun industry has marketed devices that can be attached to semi-automatic firearms and accelerate the weapon’s rate of fire to rates approaching automatic machine gun fire. As of 2020, the national registry of machine guns contained registrations for 726,951 machine guns. As a result, a substantial number of machine guns are still in circulation. This continuous-fire feature makes machine guns hazardous to the general public and appropriate for use only by the military.įederal law prohibits the possession of newly manufactured machine guns, but permits the transfer of machine guns lawfully owned prior to May 19, 1986, if the transfer is approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. Machine guns are fully automatic firearms that continue to fire bullets as long as the trigger is depressed and ammunition is available. On the other hand, federal law treats fifty caliber rifles no differently from other long guns, as do all but three states and the District of Columbia. Machine guns have been comprehensively regulated at the federal level since the 1930s, and the manufacture or importation of new machine guns for sale to civilians has been banned since 1986. Machine guns and fifty caliber rifles are highly destructive weapons appropriate only for military use. These destructive, deadly weapons of war can wreak havoc with a single pull of the trigger, and thorough regulation of them is essential to keep people safe. Military-grade firearms, including machine guns and 50 caliber rifles, should not be in our homes, on our gun ranges, or on our hunting grounds. Machine guns, 50 caliber weapons, and bump stocks are extremely dangerous and have no place in civilian hands.
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