The Trump administration is expected to announce in the coming days its highly anticipated federal rule banning bump stocks, according to a report.
“Bump stocks turn semiautomatic guns into illegal machine guns. This final rule sends a clear message: Illegal guns have no place in a law-and-order society, and we will continue to vigorously enforce the law to keep these illegal weapons off the street,” a senior Justice Department official told CNN Wednesday.
The new regulation will require bump stock owners to destroy or surrender their devices within 90 days, according to outlet.
Bump stocks modify semi-automatic guns to fire at a rate similar to automatic weapons. President Trump promised to prohibit the devices after a gunman used one in October 2017 to kill 58 people in Las Vegas when he opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival from the Mandalay Bay hotel. He officially directed DOJ to take action in February after the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead.
Under Trump’s proposed rule, first floated by the department in March, the definition of “machine gun” would be expanded to include bump stocks, effectively outlawing them. Previously, under the Obama administration, the devices were considered to be a gun accessory or part, allowing them to escape federal strict oversight.
The National Rifle Association, shortly after the Las Vegas massacre, encouraged the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review bump stocks to ensure they comply with federal law, but shied away from supporting an outright ban.
“The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” the lobby group said in a statement.
The rule may also face opposition through court challenges as seen against similar state- and city-level initiatives, with lawsuits filed in Florida and Ohio.
