5 Laws That Can Get Bipartisan Support After Florida School Shooting

By Napp Nazworth, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, February 20, 2018

5. Bump Stock Ban

First photo released of the Las Vegas shooter, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, following the mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017. | (Photo: ABC "Good Morning America" Twitter)

Though not related to the Parkland shooting, the Oct. 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, used a legal device known as a "bump stock" to make his semi-automatic rifle perform like an automatic rifle. Efforts have been underway at the federal, state and local levels to ban these devices as a result.

The devices, already illegal in California, have been banned in New Jersey, Denver and Columbia, South Carolina. Fifteen other states are considering bans.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., voiced his support for a federal bump stock ban Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"I am fine with doing away with any instrumentality that converts a semi-automatic to a fully automatic," he said, while also noting that congressional action is unnecessary because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "could regulate bump stocks tomorrow."

Napp Nazworth, Ph.D., is political analyst and politics editor for The Christian Post. Contact: napp.nazworth@christianpost.com, @NappNazworth (Twitter)