In a rare move, the National Rifle Association today came out in favor of tighter restrictions on “bump stocks,” devices that allow a rifle to fire bullets as fast as a machine gun, The New York Times reports.
The endorsement is a small step for the NRA, which has long vehemently opposed gun controls, the Times reports. But the group joins a growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill in calling for a closer look at the gun accessory.
The announcement comes days after Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more. Twelve of the rifles Paddock had in a high-rise hotel suite were outfitted with bump stocks, according to the paper.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has ruled bump stocks do not violate laws limiting ownership of machine guns.
Also from the Times:
- Investigators on Wednesday confirmed the gunman had left a note inside his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. “It was not a suicide note — I’m comfortable saying that,” Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said.
- “It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone,” Marilou Danley, the gunman’s girlfriend, said in her first public statement on Wednesday.
- Of the 489 people injured in the shooting, 317 have been discharged from hospitals; about 50 are in critical condition.
- Top congressional Republicans, who for decades have resisted any legislative limits on guns, signaled on Wednesday that they would be open to banning “bump stocks,” the firearm accessory Mr. Paddock used to transform his rifles to mimic automatic weapon fire.
