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Gun control: NRA opposes outright ban on bump stocks used in Las Vegas shooting
By Sarah Lynch and Lindsay Dunsmuir
Washington: The powerful US gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, says it would oppose an outright ban on bump-stock devices that the killer in the Las Vegas massacre of 58 people used to turn rifles into automatic weapons and strafe a crowd with bursts of sustained gunfire.
The NRA, which has seldom embraced new firearms-control measures, stunned gun control advocates last week when it issued a statement voicing willingness to support a restriction on bump stocks.
On Sunday, the organisation said it was open to regulation but opposed any legislation banning the devices.
"We don't believe that bans have ever worked on anything. What we have said has been very clear - that if something transfers a semiautomatic to function like a fully automatic, then it ought to be regulated differently," Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said on Fox News Sunday.
Cece Navarrette sits near a cross for her cousin, Bailey Schweitzer, who was among those killed during the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Credit: AP
Police said the gunman, Stephen Paddock, 64, fitted 12 of his weapons with bump- stock devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to operate as if they were fully automatic machine guns, which are otherwise outlawed in the US.
Cox and Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's chief executive, accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives under Democratic former president Barack Obama of paving the way for the use of bump stocks and creating legal confusion about their usage.
Republican President Donald Trump was an outspoken advocate of gun rights during his 2016 campaign for the White House. The NRA spent more than $US30 million ($38 million) in support of his candidacy.
Several Republican lawmakers suggested last week that they were receptive to legislation to curb the use of bump stocks, including Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives, who said such controls were an area where congress may be able to act.
But House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican who himself was nearly killed by a gunman earlier this year while at a baseball practice, was cautious on Sunday about potential new legislation.
"I do think it's a little bit early for people to say they know what to do to fix this problem," he said on NBC's Meet the Press.
"A week ago most people didn't know what a bump stock was so to think that we're now all experts and know how to write some panacea law, it's fallacy," Scalise added.
LaPierre lashed out at Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who has pushed for gun-control legislation on Capitol Hill.
Feinstein said she has garnered some Republican interest, but no support, for the measure. "I have nobody lined up," she told t CBS's Face the Nation.
Some gun-control advocates praised the NRA for showing some flexibility.
But Sunday's comments from the NRA representatives suggested nothing may have changed as they castigated calls for gun-control measures in the emotional aftermath of a mass shooting.
Reuters