Katko calls Trump administration’s forthcoming bump stocks ban a necessary action

U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY) last week commended the Trump administration’s plans to soon announce a permanent ban on bump stocks, which the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has said essentially turn semiautomatic firearms into illegal machine guns.

Several news media outlets last week reported they had obtained an internal federal memo being circulated by DOJ to law enforcement offices and gun shops that details the U.S. government’s new ban on bump stocks. The department concluded in a March notice of proposed rulemaking that bump stocks fall within the prohibition on machine guns by allowing a “shooter of a semiautomatic firearm to initiate a continuous firing cycle with a single pull of the trigger,” thereby making them illegal under federal law.

President Donald Trump promised to institute the ban after a lone gunman used such devices in 2017 to murder concert goers at an outdoor country music show held in Nevada.

“Following the horrific and senseless shooting in Las Vegas last year that killed 58 people, I joined my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in urging a permanent ban on bump stocks,” Rep. Katko said on Nov. 30. “I’m glad that the administration has taken action and moved forward with this vital request.”

While Rep. Katko said he remains a strong Second Amendment supporter, he noted that “bump stocks transform semiautomatic guns into machine guns. These devices have no place in our society.”

The congressman added that he remains committed to banning bump stocks in a bipartisan manner.

“We must continue to work in Congress to keep firearms out of the hands of those who want to do harm to others or to themselves,” he said.