Democrats propose banning 'bump stocks' like the ones used in Las Vegas shooting

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What are ‘bump stocks?’

President Trump is calling for a ban on ‘bump stocks.’ Twelve 'bump stocks' were found in the hotel room of the Las Vegas massacre shooter. Lawmakers, including some Republicans are concerned about their capabilities but what are they?

Senate Democrats Wednesday introduced legislation to ban "bump stock" devices, which were used by the Las Vegas shooter to increase the rate of bullets fired on a crowd attending a country music concert.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a staunch gun control proponent, is the sponsor of the measure. It would "ban the sale, transfer, importation, manufacture or possession of bump stocks, trigger cranks and similar accessories that accelerate a semi-automatic rifle's rate of fire."

Bump stocks, according to gun experts, can be used to modify legal semi-automatic weapons in a manner that increases the firepower to that of automatic weapons, which are illegal.

"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," Feinstein said.

"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."

Feinstein introduced the bill with more than twenty Democrats, mostly from blue states.

The bill is the opening salvo from Democrats in their latest push for gun control legislation following the Las Vegas shooting.

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