Finally after multiple shootings and hundreds of people losing their lives, today the U.S. President Donald Trump recommended a ban on bump stock devices for guns. Bump stocks are attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire faster at par with machine guns. Trump directed his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions to make the changes in the United States’ gun laws.
Trump said, “Just a few moments ago I signed a memo directing the attorney general Sessions to propose regulations that ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns. I expect these regulations to be finalized very soon.” It is said this decision was taken due to the recent school shooting at a high school in Florida. Last week, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Nikolas Cruz went on a rampage gunning down 17 students and injuring 14 others. It is said Cruz used an AR15 rifle that he purchased legally. Cruz was a former student who was expelled for bad behaviour. In the U.S., the age limit for purchasing an AR15 rifle is 18 years while the age limit for a handgun is 21 years.
In October last year, the bump stock was used in the Las Vegas shooting incident. A total of 58 people lost their lives and more than 500 were left injured. The Las Vegas shooting is said to be the deadliest attack since the 9/11 attack in 2001. Today, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump ordered the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to review the bump stocks. Sanders said, “The President doesn’t support the use of those accessories.”
