The United States has effectively banned bump stocks and similar devices that turn semi-automatic rifles into automatic weapons by reclassifying the devices as machine guns, thereby making the devices illegal in most circumstances, the US Department of Justice said in a final rulemaking notice on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) The United States has effectively banned bump stocks and similar devices that turn semi-automatic rifles into automatic weapons by reclassifying the devices as machine guns, thereby making the devices illegal in most circumstances, the US Department of Justice said in a final rulemaking notice on Tuesday."The Department of Justice is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to clarify that bump-stock-type devices-meaning 'bump fire' stocks, slide-fire devices, and devices with certain similar characteristics-are 'machineguns' as defined by the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968 because such devices allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger," the release said.
Pressure to ban bump stocks surged after the October 2017 massacre of 58 people at a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, in which bump stocks allowed a lone gunman to fire several hundred rounds into a crowd below his hotel room in a short period of time, the notice said. The attack wounded more than 500 people.
Prior to Tuesday's rule change, devices that convert semi-automatic rifles to rapid fire weapons were readily available in the commercial marketplace through online sales directly from the manufacturer, and through multiple retailers, the notice said.
With limited exceptions, US gun laws make it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun unless the weapon was lawfully possessed prior to the effective date 1988 Gun Control Act, the notice added.
