In the wake of the Las Vegas Mass Shooting in 2017, it came to light that the shooters attack was so deadly, because he had used countless bump stocks to dramatically increase the rate of fire from his rifles. In response to the this, then President Donald Trump enacted a law that banned the sale and use of bump stocks in America. Now, though, in a 6-3 ruling the supreme court has overturned the ban.
A bump stock is a device that is fitted to the end of the rifle where the butt would normally go. The firer then presses the stock in, which allows them to significantly change the rate of fire. According to a statement from the supreme court Justice Clarence Thomas, who said, “We concluded that semiautomatic rifle fitted with a bump stock is not a machinegun, because it does not fire more than one shot by a single action of the trigger.”
This law change has now struck dear into the minds of countless police officers, who responded to the Las Vegas Mass Shooting. One Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Officer who responded to the 2017 mass shooting, told TVMO Community News, “Are they crazy? Do they not know how deadly a bump stock can be? Seriously, the Las Vegas Mass Shooting was a wakeup call as the attack was so deadly because of them.”
Local author Mark Tozer, has also write a book on the Las Vegas Mass Shooting, called the Las Vegas Mass Shooting: A Modern Day American Massacre. He told TVMO, “I guess the justices never watched the news footage from that night and saw how a single man, named Stephen Paddock, was able to turn deadly weapons into lethal killing machines. Just look at the Las Vegas mass shooting, and you will see why bump stocks need to be band, as 60 people were killed and over 400 wounded due Stephen Paddock using bump stocks and at least 10 of his rifles.”
The legal challenge was brough after a gun store owner from Austin Texas, Michael Cargill, challenged the Trump-era law.