June 18 – U.S. Senator Martijn Heinrich led the charge for a ban on bump stocks on Tuesday, saying the gun accessory is nothing more than a deadly device tailor-made for mass shootings.
“I know there are people who say, ‘Guns don’t kill people; people are killing people,’” Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, said on the Senate floor as he urged his colleagues to ban stock markets in the wake of the last election. This week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to lift a federal ban on the devices.
“But the reality is this: Bump stocks kill and injure hundreds,” Heinrich continued. “As someone who has owned and used firearms for most of my life – for hunting, sport and self-defense – I know for a fact that bump stocks serve no legitimate purpose.”
Former President Donald Trump, a Republican, banned bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, in which a gunman with a bump stock — a device that allows a semiautomatic weapon to be fired in the same way as a machine gun — killed 60 people. people. The Supreme Court ruled last week in a 6-3 ruling that the executive action was unlawful.
Heinrich asked his colleagues to pass the so-called Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts (BUMP) Act by unanimous consent, a procedure in which a measure would go into effect as long as no senator objects.
But Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska took issue with Republicans, calling it a “show vote.”
“The majority leader knows this bill will not pass,” Ricketts said. “It won’t pass because enough people in this building still believe in the Constitution, and the Constitution gives Americans the right to own a firearm. This vague, sweeping bill directly infringes on that right.”
Heinrich made an impassioned plea, beginning his remarks — after acknowledging the Ruidoso fires — with memories of the music festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, the deadliest in modern American history.
“In total, the shooter fired more than a thousand rounds of ammunition in just ten minutes,” Heinrich said.
“He killed 58 people that night and injured hundreds more, including two more who ultimately died from their wounds,” Heinrich added. “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.”
After the “horrific mass shooting” in Las Vegas, Heinrich said he was leading a bipartisan effort to ban bump stocks.
“We also called on then-President Trump to use his authority to ban bump stocks in a federal rule,” he said. “President Trump actually agreed with us at the time and finalized an ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] rule to make that happen. But last week, our wildly outsized Supreme Court majority invalidated that rule in an illogical and deadly ruling. They made bump stocks legal again.”
Heinrich said Congress should take action and pass the ban on bump stocks immediately.
After Republicans blocked the effort, Heinrich said the BUMP Act reflected common-sense gun safety legislation.
“This won’t be the last time you hear about these devices in the Senate,” he said.
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.
