Senate panel to hold hearing on bump stocks

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to hold a hearing on bump stocks, a firearm accessory used by the Las Vegas mass shooter last month. 

A spokesman for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) confirmed on Monday that the Senate panel will hold a hearing on the devices, which can simulate automatic gunfire with a semi-automatic weapon.

"Hearing preparations have been in the works for some time. We will likely have more details on timing later on in the week," the Grassley aide said. 

Lawmakers have honed in on bump stocks after a mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, where nearly 60 people were killed and more than 500 injured. 

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/359049-senate-panel-to-hold-hearings-on-bump-stocks

[Phoenix61]

1. How nice

How about they actually do something about them, like ban them.

[better]

2. I view this as a positive development

Any responsible effort to do something productive like banning bump fire stocks should begin with hearings. It just shouldn't end with them. As someone who supports both 2A and gun control, I am pleased to see this development, in that it shows both that something is at least being considered, and that what is being considered relates only to a characteristic that does in fact have a material impact upon the threat a weapon poses.

Government often gets into trouble when it tries to do too much within the context of a single law, and gun control is no exception. A move to ban bump stocks stands a far greater chance of success by pure virtue of the fact that the public safety impact they pose is clear and undeniable. The AWB laws we have seen in the past were undermined considerably by the fact that they banned things that gun rights activists could say made no sense to ban and be correct. They can't make that argument and be correct with devices that increase rate of fire by an order of magnitude, so it's inherently much more difficult to frame an argument that even hints at being sane.

I'm certainly with you on wanting to see these hearings ultimately lead to these things being banned, and if and when they do, I hope we will all take notice of the relationship between the regulation being obviously relevant and it being successful, and more carefully craft future efforts at gun control with similar focus, so that they too stand a better chance of achieving results.