Watch the Explainer in the video player above.
Following the devastating mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival last year, there was bipartisan congressional support to ban ‘bump stocks’. A bump stock is a device that turns semi-automatic rifles into weapons that can fire 800 bullets per minute. They can be bought for as little as 100 US dollars, without a criminal background check.
However, the ‘bump stock ban’ bill introduced into the Senate has since stalled.
3% of the US population own more than 50% of the country’s privately-owned guns. That’s an average of 17 guns each.
Today, in light of last week’s school shooting in Florida, Trump signed a memorandum directing the Attorney General to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns.
With his memorandum, Trump is pushing for regulation on the sale of bump stock as opposed to legislation, which in theory would sidestep Congress. However, the Department of Justice may not have the power to regulate the sale of gun accessories. Several officials have admitted that any ban would end up needing to go through congress -- which is where the bill is current stalled.
