Lawmakers Push for Ban on Device Paddock Used

The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history might actually result in bipartisan progress on gun control—although it involves a device many people hadn't heard of before the Las Vegas massacre. Republicans in the House and Senate say they're willing to consider banning bump stocks, a device used by gunman Stephen Paddock that allowed him to fire semi-automatic rifles at a rate close to that of fully automatic weapons, the New York Times reports. "I own a lot of guns, and as a hunter and sportsman, I think that's our right as Americans, but I don't understand the use of this bump stock," says Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill to ban the devices, which use a firearm's recoil to bump the trigger over and over again without the shooter having to move their trigger finger. The NRA has yet to comment, though Erich Pratt of the Gun Owners of America group says they see it as "an item that is certainly protected by the Second Amendment" and will try to block attempts to ban it. Walmart appears to have already stopped selling bump stocks, Reuters reports, though other gun shops say there has been a surge of interest in the previously obscure item from people who want to acquire one while they still can. (Paddock bought 33 guns in the year before the shooting.)