Potential bump stock ban gains bipartisan support

<p>The attachment enables a semi-automatic rifle to fire faster, converting it to nearly a fully automatic weapon.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 6, 2017, 11:45 AM

Updated 2,750 days ago

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Legislation is expected to be introduced in Congress as early as next week to ban bump stocks, the device used by the Las Vegas gunman to essentially turn his semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun.
There's a rare consensus on both sides of the gun control debate that the ban is a good idea. Earlier this week, the National Rifle Association said devices like bump stocks should be "subject to additional regulations."
Rep. Peter King, a Republican, and Nassau DA Madeline Singas, a Democrat, both support the proposed ban.
“This is one time where we can take action, which really would have a significant effect in stopping the type of massacre we saw last week,” says King. “To me it's almost beyond debate, we should just ban them and get it over with.”

“We keep talking about sensible gun control, we keep talking about these things, but we need to stop talking and we need to start doing something about it,” says Singas.
The owner of Coliseum Gun Traders in Uniondale says they’ve never sold bump stocks and probably never will, but this week alone the store has gotten about 100 inquiries from people looking to buy one.

“When you tell somebody they're not going to be able to get something anymore, what do they do?  They got out and try to get one,” says Coliseum Gun Traders owner Andrew Chertoff. 
Chertoff says semi-automatic weapons like the one used in Las Vegas can be fired at a rapid rate with or without a bump stock.  Still, he would not be opposed to legislation to ban the device.

“We have to work together to make things safe to go forward,” says Chertoff.
President Donald Trump has said he'll soon begin looking into the proposed ban on bump stocks.