WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a new rule banning bump stocks, the attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in sustained, rapid bursts and that a gunman used to massacre 58 people and wound hundreds of others at a Las Vegas concert in October 2017.

The new regulation, which had been expected, would ban the sale or possession of the devices under a new interpretation of existing law. Americans who own bump stocks would have 90 days to destroy their devices or to turn them in to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Justice Department said A.T.F. would post destruction instructions on its website.

Bump stocks work by harnessing a firearm’s recoil energy to slide it back and forth to bump against a squeezed trigger, so that it keeps firing without any need for the shooter to pull the trigger again. The Justice Department said that this function transforms semiautomatic weapons, like assault rifles styled on the AR-15, into fully automatic machine guns, which Congress sharply restricted in 1986 — allowing the ban. </s> The Justice Department announced Tuesday that bump stocks have been banned. The controversial handgun accessory, which allows shooters to fire bullets from semi-automatic weapons faster than would normally be possible, drew national scrutiny after they were used to kill 59 people in Las Vegas in 2017. Under the new ruling from the Trump administration, bump stocks will be illegal to possess 90 days from when the regulation is formally published, which CNN reports will likely be Friday.

In announcing the new policy, the Justice Department said that because bump stocks "allow a shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger," they qualify as "machineguns" — which are illegal — under existing law.

"A semiautomatic firearm to which a bump-stock-type device is attached is able to produce automatic fire with a single pull of the trigger," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a division of the DOJ, wrote in its new ruling. "With limited exceptions, the Gun Control Act [of 1968] makes it unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun unless it was lawfully possessed prior to the effective date of the statute. The bumpstock-type devices covered by this final rule were not in existence prior to the effective date of the statute, and therefore will be prohibited when this rule becomes effective."

Owners of bump stocks will have 90 days from when the regulation is published in the federal register — probably Friday, according to CNN — to either turn in their bump stocks to a local ATF office or destroy them. The ban could be subject to legal action from gun rights organizations, which have long warned against the specter of the federal government forcing Americans to hand over their firearms; however, no such action has yet been announced.

In a statement to Bustle, the National Rifle Association said it was "disappointed" in the ruling and suggested that it was unfair to Americans who had already bought bump stocks.

"We are disappointed that this final rule fails to address the thousands of law-abiding Americans who relied on prior ATF determinations when lawfully acquiring these device," the NRA said in its statement. "As we recommended to ATF in our comments on the proposed rule, Congress made it possible for the Attorney General to provide amnesty for firearms regulated under the National Firearms Act. The Attorney General should have exercised that authority to provide a period of amnesty under this rule.”

After the Las Vegas shooting, the NRA said in a a statement that "devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations," and called on the Justice Department to "immediately review whether [bump stocks] comply with federal law." However, it didn't call for them to be banned entirely.

President Trump announced his intent to ban bump stocks earlier in the year, and in March, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a proposed rule similar to the one that was unveiled on Tuesday.

The final regulation was signed by Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Sessions' former chief of staff. Whitaker assumed office without Senate confirmation after Sessions resigned in November; many legal experts have argued that this was unconstitutional, and there are several lawsuits challenging the legality of Whitaker's appointment and office-holding. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed President Donald Trump a victory by rejecting for the second time in three days a bid by gun rights activists to block his new ban on “bump stock” attachments that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly.

FILE PHOTO: A bump fire stock, (R), that attaches to a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing rate is seen at Good Guys Gun Shop in Orem, Utah, U.S., October 4, 2017. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo

The policy, embraced by Trump in the wake of an October 2017 massacre in Las Vegas in which bump stocks were used, went into effect on Tuesday. The ban is a rare recent instance of gun control at the federal level in a country that has experienced a succession of mass shootings.

The court in a brief order refused to grant a temporary stay sought by the group Gun Owners of America and others in a lawsuit filed in Michigan challenging the ban while litigation continues. Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday rejected a similar bid to block the policy in a separate legal challenge brought in Washington by individual gun owners and gun rights groups including the Firearms Policy Foundation and Florida Carry Inc.

Michael Hammond, Gun Owners of America’s legislative counsel, said many owners of the estimated 500,000 bump stocks in the United States would refuse to turn them in despite the ban and related criminal penalties. People caught in possession of bump stocks could face up to 10 years in prison under the policy.

“GOA will continue to fight the issue in the court system, as the case now returns to the lower courts. We remain convinced that the courts will consign this unlawful, unconstitutional ban to the trash bin of history, where it belongs,” Hammond said in a statement, using the group’s acronym.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the administration was pleased with the high court’s action.

Bump stocks use a gun’s recoil to bump its trigger, enabling a semiautomatic weapon to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, which can transform it into a machine gun. The Justice Department’s regulation followed the lead of many states and retailers that imposed stricter limits on sales of guns and accessories after a deadly shooting at a Florida high school in February 2018.

LAS VEGAS SHOOTING

Trump pledged to ban bump stocks soon after a gunman used them in a spree that killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas. The Justice Department on Dec. 18 announced plans to implement the policy on March 26.

The FBI said in January it had found no clear motive for the 64-year-old Las Vegas gunman, Stephen Paddock, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

In the Michigan case, a federal judge already has ruled in favor of the administration. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to put the ban on hold pending appeal. Other plaintiffs in that case include the Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League and three individual gun owners.

In the Washington case, a federal judge also upheld the ban, prompting the gun rights advocates to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court has heard oral arguments but has not yet ruled.

Those challenging the policy have argued that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacks the authority to equate bump stocks with machine guns. One of the laws at the center of the legal dispute was written more than 80 years ago, when Congress restricted access to machine guns during the heyday of American gangsters’ use of “tommy guns.”

Trump’s fellow Republicans typically oppose gun control measures and favor of a broad interpretation of the right to bear arms promised in the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. In 2017, there were 39,773 gun deaths in the United States, according to the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures released in December. </s> It Will Take Effect in Late March

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is moving to officially ban bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like automatic firearms.

A senior Justice Department official says bump stocks will be banned under the federal law that prohibits machine guns. It will take effect in late March. After that, it will be illegal to possess bump stocks.

The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The devices became a focal point in the national gun control debate after they were used in October 2017 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Gunman Stephen Paddock rained a hail of bullets from his 32nd-floor Las Vegas hotel room, killing 58 people at a concert. </s> Days after yet another mass shooting sparked a nationwide debate on gun control and an immediate response from lawmakers, President Trump took action.

The president said he signed an order on Feb. 20 directing the Justice Department to ban "bump stocks" and other gun modifiers that make semi-automatic firearms fire faster.

"We must move past clichés and tired debates and focus on evidence-based solutions and security measures that actually work," Trump said during a ceremony to honor the 17 victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

A month later, Trump confirmed the Justice Department is forging ahead with his plan to ban rapid-fire bump stocks.

“Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns,” he explained in a tweet on March 23.

Here's what you need to know about bump stocks, the devices involved in last year's Las Vegas shooting.

How do they work?

A bump stock is an attachment that allows a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic weapon's "cyclic firing rate to mimic nearly continuous automatic fire," according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Semi-automatic rifles with bump stocks could fire hundreds of rounds per minute, according to experts.

Yes. The ATF gave its seal of approval under the Obama administration in 2010.

At the time, the bureau concluded bump stocks didn't convert a semi-automatic firearm into one that is fully automatic, meaning it was not equivalent to machine guns that are regulated under the National Firearms Act, which dates back to the 1930s.

Bump stocks are currently legal under federal law. However, it is illegal for U.S. citizens to own fully automatic firearms produced after May 19, 1986, The New York Times reported.

“The classification of these devices depends on whether they mechanically alter the function of the firearm to fire fully automatic,” Jill Snyder, a special agent in charge at the ATF, told The Times. “Bump-fire stocks, while simulating automatic fire, do not actually alter the firearm to fire automatically, making them legal under current federal law.”

But since the Las Vegas shooting, states and cities have increasingly pushed for legislation to ban the devices.

Massachusetts became the first state to pass legislation banning the device after the October incident. The state law, which went into effect Feb. 1, prohibits possession of the device under all circumstances. It also bans the possession of trigger cranks.

New Jersey, as well as large cities such as Denver and Columbia, South Carolina, also have enacted laws prohibiting the sale and possession of bump stocks.

California law already prohibited the sale of bump stocks.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) even called for an immediate review of bump stocks after the Vegas shooting.

"The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations," the NRA said in a statement in October.

What other actions has Trump taken?

Trump assured Americans that something would be done about bump stocks very quickly.

"I'm writing that out myself. I don't care if Congress does it or not," he said on Feb. 26. "You put it into the machine gun category, which is what it is, it becomes, essentially, a machine gun, and nobody is going to be able to -- it's going to very hard to get them."

On March 23, Trump signed a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, which includes several policy changes aimed at curbing gun violence, including the so-called "Fix NICS" measure to strengthen the background check system.

The measure to fix the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) provides additional funding to agencies and states that comply with the system. Those that do not, will be penalized.

More than $2 billion is also allocated to train school officials and law enforcement officers to identify signs of potential threats. This money would also be used to install metal detectors.

Another main action Trump has taken on guns has been to sign a resolution blocking an Obama-era background check rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.

Obama's rule, which affected an estimated 75,000 people, required the Social Security Administration to forward to the Justice Department the names of certain disabled beneficiaries to be added to an FBI database of individuals ineligible to purchase a firearm.

Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Lucia I. Suarez Sang and The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> The Justice Department is proposing rule changes that will effectively ban bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like a machine gun, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Friday.

"After the senseless attack in Las Vegas, this proposed rule is a critical step in our effort to reduce the threat of gun violence that is in keeping with the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress," Sessions said in a statement.

Sessions has been a defender of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.

Gunman Stephen Paddock used a bump stock in a massacre last October that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others at a music festival in Las Vegas.

Authorities said Paddock’s ability to fire hundreds of rounds per minute over a 10-minute period from his 32nd-floor hotel suite was a major factor in the high casualty count.

In February, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the Justice Department to make the regulatory change.

"As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period," Trump said on Twitter as the announcement was made. "We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns."

The National Rifle Association, the most powerful U.S. gun lobby, supported more regulation of bump stocks but has not endorsed Trump's ban and said previously it was awaiting the publication of the regulation before rendering judgment.

The Justice Department announcement comes as hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to rally nationwide on Saturday for tighter gun laws in "March For Our Lives" protests led by survivors of the Florida school massacre, which reiginited the debate over Americans' access to guns.

Students from the Parkland, Florida, high school where 17 students and staff were killed on Feb. 14 will be among the 500,000 people who organizers say could rally on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol in Washington. </s> The US government said Tuesday it was banning bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns and that were used in a mass shooting in Las Vegas in October 2017.

The devices, which harness the recoil of a semi-automatic rifle's discharge to make the trigger fire faster, effectively turn the weapons into machine guns, which are illegal, the Justice Department said.

Bump stocks allow a "shooter of a semi-automatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger," the department said in a statement.

The devices were used by Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock on a dozen rifles he deployed to kill 58 people and wound 500 at an open concert last year, the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.

Bump stocks allowed him to fire at a rate of nine bullets a second, before he turned his weapons on himself.

Following another gun massacre at a school in Parkland, Florida, in February this year that left 17 people dead, more than a million people demonstrated for stricter gun control.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to ban bump stocks but refused restrictions on semi-automatic assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby, did not mount any major campaign to counter a bump stock ban.

Anyone owning a bump stock will have 90 days after the new regulation is published in the Federal Register to either hand in their devices to the authorities, or destroy them.

While a third of US households possess a firearm, the majority of Americans favor tougher gun controls such as background checks for people seeking to buy a weapon. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice formally submitted a regulation on Saturday to ban “bump stocks,” a modification to high-capacity rifles that lets them fire like an automatic weapon.

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum in February directing the department to make the regulatory change, which must now be approved by the Office of Management and Budget before it is published and subject to a commentary period.

The move does not require congressional approval, allowing the administration to side-step what could have been insurmountable pressure from pro-gun groups such as the National Rifle Association that have worked to erode changes in firearm laws in the wake of mass shootings in Florida and Nevada.

The NRA supported more regulations on bump stocks but has not endorsed Trump’s ban and said previously it was awaiting the publication of the regulation before rendering judgment.

The NRA could not immediately be reached for comment.

Shooter Stephen Paddock was in possession of a “bump stock” after a shooting rampage in Las Vegas in October 2017 that left 58 people dead and more than 850 injured. </s> The US Justice Department moved Saturday to redefine machineguns to include "bump stocks," a regulatory tweak that would ban devices used to boost the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons.

The proposed change must undergo a review but if approved would outlaw the possession, sale or manufacture of bump stocks under the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act.

The devices were used to devastating effect by the gunman who rained fire on concert-goers in Las Vegas October 1, killing 58 people and injuring more than 850.

After the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people, President Donald Trump called for a ban on bump stocks even though the semi-automatic rifle used in that case was not fitted with the device.

The outrage over the Florida shooting, however, has raised public pressure for broad action on the availability of semi-automatic weapons.

Students who survived the attack are organizing a massive march on Washington in two weeks to demand stricter curbs on guns.

The president "is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety and security of every American and he has directed us to propose a regulation addressing bump stocks," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

"To that end, the Department of Justice has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a notice of a proposed regulation to clarify that the National Firearms and Gun Control Act defines 'machinegun' to include bump stock type devices."
The U.S. Department of Justice issues a final regulation banning the use of bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to be fired at a rate similar to that of automatic weapons and became infamous following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. It is scheduled to go into effect on March 21, 2019.