Page 32 - aruba-today-20171007

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 7 OctOber 2017
Is NRA move to regulate ‘bump stocks’ real or a ruse?

By LISA MARIE PANE dollars into political cam-
Associated Press paigns and successfully
ATLANTA (AP) — When the blocks legislation that
National Rifle Association would either ban certain
urged the government firearms or make them
to revisit whether “bump more difficult to purchase.
stocks” should be restrict- The NRA has only gained
ed, it immediately raised influence following the
eyebrows. Why would the election of Trump, who
nation’s leading gun-rights became the first president
organization, not known since Ronald Reagan to
for compromise, be will- address the group’s annu-
ing to bend even just a al meeting.
bit when it wields perhaps After some particularly
more influence than ever? deadly mass shootings, the
Some gun-industry experts NRA has worked to find
say the NRA’s move is little some common ground
more than a ruse to stall Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, demonstrates how a little-known with gun-control advo-
any momentum for wider device called a “bump stock” works when attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault cates.
gun control until outrage store and shooting range Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, in South Jordan, Utah Following the 2007 Virginia
over the Las Vegas attack Associated Press Tech shooting in which a
subsides. It also carries little wounded hundreds more. telling Fox News’ Tucker the agency to evaluate a mentally ill student shot
risk. For one, it’s rare for the On Thursday, the NRA is- Carlson: “What we’ve said firearm or accessory to de- and killed 32 people and
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac- sued a statement that is ATF needs to do their job. termine if its sale is restrict- wounded 17, the NRA
co, Firearms and Explosives urged the ATF to review ATF needs to look and if ed by either federal law. It worked with gun-control
to reverse course without whether the devices com- there’s technology that’s is extremely rare for the ATF advocates to fund a bill
a change in the law. For ply with federal law and come to the market that to reconsider its previous designed to improve re-
another, “bump stocks” said it “believes that devic- allow for a semi-automatic guidance unless federal cord keeping so that peo-
are not big moneymakers es designed to allow semi- rifle to function as a fully law changes — so rare that ple with mental illnesses
for the gun industry. And automatic rifles to function automatic rifle, they need experts could think of only were unable to purchase
by seeking an administra- like fully automatic rifles to be regulated differently. one time when it has hap- a firearm.
tive change, rather than a should be subject to addi- We didn’t talk about ban- pened, and even then they In the days following the
new law, the NRA allows its tional regulations.” ning anything.” weren’t sure their memories Las Vegas attack, unusual
supporters in Congress to The statement pointedly Notably, the nation’s were correct. alliances began to emerge
avoid going on the record noted that it was under other leading gun lobby- The agency, describing its between top Democratic
with a vote. President Barack Obama’s ing groups, including Gun process in general on Fri- and Republican members
“They’re dismissed as silly administration that the de- Owners of America, reit- day, indicated that Con- of Congress urging that
gadgets that really inhibit vices were authorized to be erated their opposition to gress will be responsible for bump stocks be banned. If
the accuracy of a firearm. sold and again urged Con- restricting or banning the decisions about regulating the devices were restricted
If these bump stocks were gress to enact one of the devices. or banning the devices. by an administrative ruling,
super popular among gun gun lobby’s top priorities: a The few companies that sell It was not immediately it would spare NRA sup-
owners, we’d see a very national “concealed-carry bump stocks are known to clear whether President porters in Congress from
different position from the reciprocity” law that would include in their packaging Donald Trump or Attorney having to go on the record
NRA,” said Adam Winkler, require all states to rec- a letter from the ATF from General Jeff Sessions, who with a vote.
a professor at the University ognize other states’ con- 2010, when the agency oversees the ATF, could John Feinblatt, president of
of California, Los Angeles, cealed carry permits. concluded that they were order it to re-evaluate its Everytown for Gun Safety,
School of Law and author In a matter of hours, NRA not restricted by either the judgment about devices. cast the NRA’s move as a
of “Gunfight: The Battle chief lobbyist Chris Cox put Gun Control Act or the Na- The NRA is viewed as the “wink and a nod.”
over the Right to Bear Arms to rest any sense that the tional Firearms Act. most powerful and most “They’re not making a
in America.” group was actively seek- The ATF provides guidance inflexible group in the gun concession. What they’ve
The NRA “can throw a ing a ban of bump stocks, when a manufacturer asks lobby. It pours millions of really done is punted this
sacrificial lamb of ‘bump to the very federal agency
stocks’ because they know that said bump stocks were
that gun owners don’t use legal,” Feinblatt said. “This
them or like them,” he was just a wink and nod.”q
added.
The devices, originally in-
tended to help people
with disabilities, fit over the
stock and pistol grip of a
semi-automatic rifle and
allow the weapon to fire
continuously, some 400 to
800 rounds in a single min-
ute, mimicking a fully auto-
matic firearm. Bump stocks
were found among the
weapons used by Stephen
Paddock as he rained bul-
lets from a Las Vegas ca-
sino high-rise last Sunday. In this Oct. 4, 2017, photo, a device called a “bump stock” is attached to a semi-automatic rifle
The gunfire killed 58 people at the Gun Vault store and shooting range in South Jordan, Utah.
at a concert below and Associated Press