The National
Rifle Association (NRA), an American organization which advocates for
gun rights, has called on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) to review whether "bump stocks" --
similar to the devices used in Sunday night's Las Vegas mass shooting
-- comply with federal US law.
“The
NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to
function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional
regulations,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and Executive Director
Chris Cox said in a joint statement issued on Thursday. ATF is a
federal law enforcement organization within the United States
Department of Justice.
The NRA move
comes four days after a heavily armed gunman killed 58 and injured
more than 500 people at a music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, which
has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the United States.
In Nevada,
authorities don’t outlaw automatic weapons. They don’t require
people to have licenses for their guns or register their guns.
The shooter,
Stephen Paddock, purchased 33 automatic weapons in the last year.
Police found a total of 47 guns in the hotel room and house of
64-year-old, who rained down a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor
of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air concert.
At least one
of the rifles found in the hotel suite was outfitted with a “bump
stock,” a legal attachment that allows a semi-automatic weapon to
fire at the same rate as a fully automatic firearm.
The
influential gun lobby often stifles any legislation that is designed
to put restrictions on automatic weapons. Officials working with the
NRA have told Republican members of Congress and President Donald
Trump administration officials they would oppose any hastily cobbled
together legislation.
The NRA and
its allies are seeking to avoid the discussion in Congress of
controversial issues such as universal background checks on gun
sales, a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity
ammunition magazines.
The Trump
administration is “open to” reviewing its policy on bump stocks,
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee said during a White House
briefing on Thursday.
Full
report:
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