Senators introduce bill to ban accessories that accelerate rate of fire following Las Vegas shooting

Democratic Senators introduced Wednesday a bill regarding the ban the sale of accessories that accelerate the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons, such as those used by the gunman during the shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday.

This bill would prohibit the sale, transfer, importation, manufacture, and possession of bump stocks, trigger cranks, and similar accessories that accelerate a semi-automatic rifle’s rate of fire.

“We’ve now witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which saw nearly 600 people killed or injured,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), one of the senators who introduced the bill, said. “An American concert venue has now become a battlefield. We must stop this now. Automatic weapons have been illegal for more than 30 years, but there’s a loophole in the law that can be exploited to allow killers to fire at rates of between 400 and 800 rounds-per-minute. The only reason to fire so many rounds so fast is to kill large numbers of people. No one should be able to easily and cheaply modify legal weapons into what are essentially machine guns.”

The National Firearms Act bans the sale, manufacture, and transfer of automatic weapons. Semi-automatic rifles typically fire at a rate of 45 to 60 rounds per minute. A bump stock, or other similar devices, can increase the weapon’s rate of fire to between 400 and 800 rounds per minute.

The bill would exempt legitimate accessories used by hunters and contain exceptions for lawful possession of the devices by law enforcement and the government.