So-called “bump stocks” are no longer available at Cabela’s, one of the nation’s largest outdoor sporting goods stores, after news broke that the Las Vegas gunman possessed the devices as he carried out his attack and had also purchased a firearm from the sporting goods superstore.
Out of the box, a bump stock allows a semi-automatic rifle to fire bullets at an almost fully-automatic rate. A search of the Cabela’s website by the Washington Examiner found that they were available online as late as Monday night, 24 hours after Stephen Paddock killed 59 people and wounded more than 500. But they no longer came up in searches of the site as of Wednesday morning.
“We apologize for any inconvenience,” an error message reads when clicking on a link to a bump stock product page that comes up on Google searches, “but the page you requested is currently unavailable.” Cached versions of the website show that Cabela’s listed for sale numerous bump stocks for semi-automatic AR-15s and AK47s.
“Maximize your fun with this safe and innovative AR-15 stock, which uses bump-fire technology to shoot as quickly as desired,” the cached description for the Slide Fire AR-15 stock read, noting that the product’s quality manufacturing ensured “a lifetime of rapid-firing fun.”
While machine guns are heavily regulated and extremely difficult to obtain, the bump stock is an attachment that uses a gun’s recoil and the shooter’s shoulder to achieve rapid fire. Machine guns, for those who can even get them, can cost upwards of $20,000. But Cabela’s carried bump stocks for as little as $119.
Anyone could buy a bump stock before Sunday night, no background check and no special gunsmith skills required. “This stock is approved by the BATFE and does not require any special permits to use,” a cached version of the Cabela’s website read. “Quick, easy installation with no permanent modifications necessary.”
A Cabela’s spokesman at the company’s corporate offices in Nebraska did not return numerous requests for comment and further information.
While the products aren’t available online, it’s not clear if they can still be purchased at the store’s physical locations. Reached by phone, sales clerks at the store’s Short Pump, Va., location reported that bump stocks had sold out. And three different sales clerks at the store in Christiana, Del., couldn’t say whether the products were still being sold after the Las Vegas attack, a shooting they referred to over the phone as “the incident.”
Soon the product could be illegal altogether. Along with 26 Senate Democrats on Wednesday, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced legislation that would make it illegal “to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess” a bump stock. While the Las Vegas gunman bought a firearm from the sporting good’s store, it’s not clear if he purchased the bump stock from Cabella’s.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
