President Donald Trump announced Friday that the administration would ban bump stocks and “all devices” that turn otherwise legal weapons into “illegal machine guns,” keeping a promise made amid a bipartisan gun control debate.

Moments before he departed Joint Base Andrews for his Florida property at Mar-a-Lago, and hours after signing a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, the president tweeted about the new policy.

“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 wrote on Friday.

A bump stock is an attachment that allows a semi-automatic rifle to achieve 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 can fire hundreds of rounds per minute, according to experts.

The bump stock moved to the foreground in the national discussion of gun control last fall, after Stephen Paddock used the attachment when he opened fire at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. He killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.

The president, for months, has urged the Justice Department to ban firearm modifiers, directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month to implement new federal guidelines “very soon.”

On Friday, Sessions announced that bump stocks fall within the definition of “machine gun” under federal law, as the devices allow a semiautomatic firearms to achieve a continuous firing cycle with the single pull of the trigger.

WHAT ARE BUMP STOCKS? HOW THEY WORK AND WHY TRUMP WANTS THEM BANNED

“Since the day he took office, President Trump has had no higher priority than the safety of each and every American,” Sessions said in a statement. “That is why today the Department of Justice is publishing for public comment a proposed rulemaking that would define ‘machine gun’ to include bump stock-type devices under federal law – effectively banning them.”

Sessions cited the “senseless” Las Vegas attack, noting that the rule is a “critical step” in the effort to reduce the threat of gun violence.

The White House released a memo last month that directed the Justice Department to propose the rule.

Trump wrote in the memo, “Although the Obama administration repeatedly concluded that particular bump stock type devices were lawful to purchase and possess, I sought further clarification of the law restricting fully automatic machine guns.”

The ATF made bump stocks legal in 2010, when, at the time, the bureau concluded that 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.

Since the shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school last month, the president has proposed numerous measures in the gun control debate, including banning bump stocks, arming and training teachers and school officials, and raising the age requirement to purchase a gun from 18 to 21.

The president, though, has touched off tensions with the National Rifle Association, which endorsed him during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump has said, repeatedly, that he and the NRA “don’t have to agree on everything.” </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> 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> In a tweet, President Trump announced that he was directing DOJ to reverse a 2010 decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that classified bump stocks as firearm parts

United States President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a new rule banning the use of bump stocks.

In a tweet, President Trump announced that he was directing DOJ to reverse a 2010 decision by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that classified bump stocks as firearm parts so the devices could be banned under current laws that prohibit owning fully automatic weapons, The Hill reported.

Further, he blamed the Obama administration for the legalisation of 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," President Trump wrote on Twitter.

The decision comes after a letter was sent by the Republican senators in October last year urging the administration to review the decision after a mass shooter used the device in killing 58 people at a country music concert in Las Vegas.

It was the deadliest attack to ever take place on US soil, since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Bump stocks are generally used to modify semi-automatic weapons so that they can fire more rapidly.

"Unfortunately, we are all now keenly aware of how this device operates and believe that this renewed review and determination will keep our citizens safe and ensure that federal law is enforced," the nine Republicans wrote last year.

In the US, fully automatic weapons have been banned since 1986, but bump stocks were described by the ATF in 2010 as "a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under the Gun Control Act or the National Firearms Act.'

Last month, President Trump recommended a ban on 'bump stocks' gun devices and directed his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions to make the proposed changes in the country's gun control law, in the wake of the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people and injured 17 others.

19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, a former student, claimed responsibility for the shooting and was expelled from the school for disciplinary reasons. He has been booked on 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Following this, massive protests were held by students across the US to pressurise the Trump administration for tougher gun measures.

Last week, students from more than 3,000 schools took to the streets from Washington to Los Angeles and from New York to Parkland on National Walkout Day to call for action against gun violence.

Organized by Empower, the youth arm of the Women's March movement, the walkouts are the latest show of activism by young people who are now wading into the gun-control debate.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever </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> 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> Trump ordered the Justice Department to work toward a ban after the Parkland shooting

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump says his administration will “BAN” bump stock devices that “turn legal weapons into illegal machines.”

The Justice Department announced Friday that it has started the process to amend federal firearms regulations to clarify that federal law defines bump stocks as machine guns.

Trump had ordered Justice to work toward a ban after the Florida high school shooting. Bump stocks enable guns to fire like automatic weapons, and were used in last year’s Las Vegas massacre.

Trump tweeted Friday: “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.”

The government determined in 2010 that bump stocks couldn’t be regulated unless Congress changed the law. </s> The Justice Department moved forward on Saturday with plans to ban bump stock devices and make them illegal to own or sell.

The move comes after President Trump signed an executive order that instructed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to regulate the devices, which help speed up the pace of gunfire and allow semi-automatic guns to fire at a rate that mimics a fully automatic firearm.

On Saturday, Sessions announced his office submitted a notice to the Office of Management and Budget that would clarify the definition of "machinegun" and add bump stocks to the list of devices banned.

More: Trump takes executive action to ban bump stocks that increase weapons' firepower

More: ATF reviewing whether to ban 'bump stocks'

More: 'Bump stocks' may be new to you, but federal officials have grappled with them for years

The notice is one of the first steps in banning bump stocks. After approved by the office, the DOJ says it will "seek to publish this notice as expeditiously as possible."

The order would prohibit people from owning the devices, selling them and stop companies from manufacturing them.

"President Trump is absolutely committed to ensuring the safety and security of every American and he has directed us to propose a regulation addressing bump stocks,” Sessions said in a statement.

Bump stocks were found among the weapons used in the Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people Oct. 1. Such bump-fire devices use the recoil of a semiautomatic firearm to rapidly pull the trigger, mimicking fully automatic firing.

The Vegas shooting, the deadliest in recent U.S. history, reignited the conversation on whether the devices are legal.

Congress banned the sale and manufacture of machine guns for civilian use in 1986, and machine guns in circulation before then are tightly regulated, limited in number and expensive.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has debated over the devices for years and has issued a series of opinions, determining that the devices were lawful.

Trump took on the issue after the Valentine's Day high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., as students and gun-control advocates pressured him and other lawmakers to examine current gun laws.

He announced the order on bump stocks last month after meeting with survivors of the shooting.

“We must do more to protect our children,” Trump said, promising that school safety is a top priority of his administration. </s> President Trump has directed the Justice Department to ban gun modifications, like bump stocks that were used in Las Vegas massacre.

President Donald Trump says he's signed a memo directing the Justice Department to propose regulations to "ban all devices" like bump stocks used in last year's Las Vegas massacre.

 

The president is making the announcement to curb the use of the rapid-fire devices during a ceremony recognizing bravery by the nation's public safety officers.

 

Trump is responding days after the shooting deaths of 17 people at a Florida high school. He's pointing to the need to propose regulations to ban the device that was used in the October shooting deaths of 58 people in Las Vegas.

 

White House officials say the president will be meeting with students, teachers and state and local officials to discuss ways of providing more school safety and address gun violence. Past efforts to address gun violence in Congress have failed.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, an attempt to revive a bill to ban assault rifles.
U.S. President Donald Trump orders the Department of Justice to prepare regulations to ban devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to become fully automatic, such as the bump stocks used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.