Forty-seven guns were found in Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel room, including a modified bump stock rifle that was likely heard on chilling videos of the Route 91 Harvest music festival that captured what sounded like automatic gunfire raining down on the crowd.
As usual following any shooting (except the routine ones in large, Democrat-run cities like Chicago), the NRA was singled out for blame almost immediately, and on Thursday, the NRA issued a statement saying that “devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.”
NEW: NRA statement on Las Vegas/bump stocks call on ATF to review issue, "should be subject to additional regulations" pic.twitter.com/aVPHmjQlg3
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) October 5, 2017
NRA fine with extra regulation of bump stocks. Most obvious measure would be to add them to NFA. https://t.co/VfTfNvIV0j
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) October 5, 2017
Democrats already have introduced legislation to outlaw bump stocks, and as The Washington Examiner reported Thursday, the White House too is looking into regulating bump stocks. “We know that members of both parties and multiple organizations are planning to take a look at ‘bump stocks’ and related devices,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.
White House "open" to reviewing legality of bump stocks: "We want to be part of that discussion" https://t.co/Cx83D7mvdR pic.twitter.com/5PMaCQdMLn
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 5, 2017
So … are Republicans and the NRA really committed to this, or are bump stocks just an easy sacrifice in a legislative battle in which Democrats would want much more done? Bump stocks are reportedly selling out in gun stores as buyers see a ban coming very soon.
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#LasVegas #shooting: Bump stocks, used by shooter Stephen Paddock, are selling out in American gun stores https://t.co/9DnykySYdG
— ABC News (@abcnews) October 5, 2017
Quite a few aren’t happy that the NRA has apparently caved so quickly … it’s pretty obvious that the gun control lobby will take every inch it can get. Will the NRA’s statement even earn the organization one high-five for contributing to “common sense gun control”? Hell no.
So they’ve decided this will be the one tiny thing they will allow https://t.co/6Em8fZaIeo
— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) October 5, 2017
Easy score for NRA. Makes little difference to gun owners or manufacturers & makes them look reasonable. Still, they could’ve said nothing. https://t.co/HQsCSXn2Uf
— Nick Wing (@nickpwing) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/916004111123992576
NRA rattled? This looks like a fallback position to avoid more sweeping moves, such as banning sale of assault rifles. https://t.co/dcZ2kEm9a4
— John Cassidy (@JohnCassidy) October 5, 2017
Well, a ban seems to be coming so this does not surprise me. https://t.co/c0GCLby0sS
— Persnickety (@Dawnsfire) October 5, 2017
So NRA is fine with more regs on bump stocks but they want ATF to handle. An effort to keep Congress (GOP lawmakers) from voting on it? https://t.co/EgzXEVUn4t
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 5, 2017
In other words, the @NRA spent the past four days in lock-down, cone-of-silence mode and could not come up with anyone to blame. https://t.co/N24mIEr7GG
— The American Independent (@AmerIndependent) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/jfrazier57/status/916010488919740416
https://twitter.com/Trisha_Bateman/status/916019582934159360
Well, the gun control crowd isn’t happy with the concession; how about the other side?
https://twitter.com/ChelieinTX/status/916007770150883329
https://twitter.com/ItsTheEOTWAWKI/status/916014551283519489
Dear @NRA,
One guy goes bonkers and you cave this time. Unsat. https://t.co/ssJ3nGA8EI— Dan (@DanLtcR) October 5, 2017
Interested to see how the other gun groups, like Gun Owners of America, react.
Whether they try to steal NRA marketshare by opposing this. https://t.co/OQAeJjM5GG
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 5, 2017
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Related:
This retired Marine Captain and gun store owner asked Nancy Pelosi a simple question — her answer says it all https://t.co/BbfMLWOnGi
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 5, 2017
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