WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats tried to pass legislation Tuesday banning bump stocks for firearms after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier ban, but a single Republican objected on behalf of his party, effectively halting the bill.
Supported by the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumersenator Martijn HeinrichDN.M., sought “unanimous consent” to pass his BUMP Act that would ban the devices, which modify semi-automatic weapons to fire bullets faster.
The New Mexico senator said he is a gun owner who sees no purpose in buying up stocks other than to enable mass shootings such as in Las Vegas in 2017, when a gunman killed dozens of people at a music festival and more than 500 people were injured.
“The Las Vegas shooter was able to kill and injure so many people so quickly because he used a deadly device known as a bump stock,” Heinrich said on the Senate floor. “There is no legitimate use for a bump stock. Not for self-defense, not in a law enforcement context, not even in military applications, because they are less accurate than a standard, fully automatic military platform. But where they are tailor-made is a mass shooting.”
But the bill faced an objection from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., preventing it from moving forward. The objection was supported by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republican senators, marking a reversal after many of them supported a ban on bump stocks imposed by the Trump administration after the Las Vegas massacre Vegas.
Ricketts labeled the bill “a gun-grabbing overreach,” saying it is vaguely written and could give the Biden administration the power to target “common firearms accessories, not just stocks.”
“That’s really, really scary,” Ricketts said, calling the measure an infringement on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
He called it “another day in the Democratic summer of show voting,” following recent votes on IVF and contraception protections, which were also blocked by Republicans.
The clash comes in the heat of an election year in which Republicans are emerging as staunch supporters of gun rights, while President Joe Biden and Democrats are calling for stricter gun laws.
The move Tuesday followed a Supreme Court ruling last week that said the executive branch cannot use existing law to ban bump stocks, though the 6-3 ruling along ideological lines left the door open for Congress to to regulate the accessories with a new law.
Unanimous consent is a mechanism that allows the Senate to quickly pass legislation, and is often used for non-controversial measures. Schumer could also advance the bump stock bill or other legislation through the regular process, which would take more time and require 60 votes to break a filibuster. That means at least nine Republicans would have to support it if Democrats and independents stick together.
Before the unanimous consent request, Schumer did not say whether he would bring up the bill through regular channels if it stalled, imploring Republicans to “see the light” and not block it.
“Many of them were very supportive of this when President Trump did it as a regulation,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump is certainly no friend of gun safety. But I’m just shocked that the Supreme Court will even be on his right.”
Heinrich warned that if Congress does not ban bump stocks, “street gangs, cartels and mass shooters” could gain access to these devices “and turn them against our communities.”
He added: “This won’t be the last time you hear about these devices in the Senate.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
