The Justice Department unveiled Friday a proposed regulation to outlaw bump stocks, devices which modify semi-automatic guns to fire at a rate similar to automatic weapons.
“Since the day he took office, President Trump has had no higher priority than the safety of each and every American,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Friday. “That is why today the Department of Justice is publishing for public comment a proposed rulemaking that would define ‘machinegun’ to include bump stock-type devices under federal law — effectively banning them.”
“After the senseless attack in Las Vegas, this proposed rule is a critical step in our effort to reduce the threat of gun violence that is in keeping with the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress,” Sessions added. “I look forward to working with the President’s School Safety Commission to identify other ways to keep our country and our children safe, and I thank the President for his courageous leadership on this issue.”
Around the same time the statement came out, President Trump tweeted the Justice Department would issue the rule “as I promised,” while taking a shot at the Obama administration.
“Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA,” Trump said in a tweet Friday. “As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”
Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
The Obama administration, according to a letter from June 2010 written by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives technology chief John Spencer, argued bump stocks could not be regulated by law.
“The stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed,” Spencer wrote. “Accordingly, we find that the ‘bump-stock’ is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.”
But after a string of mass shootings, including a deadly shooting in October where a bump stock was used to kill dozens of concertgoers in Las Vegas, and another deadly shooting last month at a high school in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead, Trump asked the Justice Department to regulate bump stocks.
The announcement from the Justice Department and Trump comes one day before the March for Our Lives rally on Saturday in Washington, D.C., where thousands of people are expected to advocate for stricter gun laws.
