Phoenix activist files petition to ban bump stocks used in Vegas shooting
Oct 11, 2017, 1:36 PM | Updated: Oct 12, 2017, 11:24 am
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2017, file photo, shooting instructor Frankie McRae demonstrates the grip on an AR-15 rifle fitted with a "bump stock" at his 37 PSR Gun Club in Bunnlevel, N.C. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed the lawsuit on Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, against the makers and sellers of “bump stocks,” which use the recoil of a semiautomatic rifle to let the finger "bump" the trigger, allowing the weapon to fire continuously. The devices were used by Stephen Paddock when he opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing dozens of people. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
(AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)
PHOENIX — A Phoenix activist filed a petition Wednesday to ban bump stocks, a modification used by the Las Vegas shooter that makes assault-style rifles function similar to an automatic weapon.
“They must be outlawed for everyone’s sake,” the Rev. Jarrett Maupin said in a press release.
Maupin said his petition did not seek to ban guns, but just “a device specifically and intentionally constructed for the purpose of easily converting legal guns into illegal guns.”
It is illegal for Americans to own automatic weapons without receiving a special permit.
Bump stocks use the motion of a semiautomatic weapon to reach firing speeds close to that of fully automatics.
The National Rifle Association said, while it did not support an outright ban on bump stocks, it could support some form of restrictions. Maupin said that was proof enough the devices should be removed from Phoenix shelves.
“We cannot afford to put our police and the public at an even greater risk of being harmed or killed by not outlawing bump fire stocks,” he said. “These deadly weapons modifiers have no place in our society and are not the tools of responsible gun owners.”
More than 50 people were killed in the Las Vegas shooting 10 days ago.
KTAR legal analyst Monica Lindstrom said the city can ban or restrict the stocks, so long as it goes through proper channels. However, it will have to pass constitutional scrutiny tests and may be voided by the Second Amendment.
The Phoenix City Council has 15 days to act on the petition.
