Less than a week after the worst mass shooting in modern American history resulted in 58 deaths and 489 other injuries, the National Rifle Association (NRA) released a statement calling for the regulation of bump stocks:
“Despite the fact that the Obama administration approved the sale of bump fire stocks on at least two occasions, the National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law. The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” the NRA wrote.
The NRA issued the statement after reports revealed that the gunman, a 64-year-old white male identified as Stephen Paddock, had at least 17 guns stockpiled in his hotel room, a dozen of which were fitted with bump stocks.
First of all, what is a bump stock and how does it work?
As The New York Times reports, a bump stock is a gun attachment that enables a semi-automatic rifle to fire at a faster rate.
A semi-automatic gun releases only one round with each trigger pull, while an automatic gun releases multiple rounds with each trigger pull. This means that fully automatic weapons are more dangerous, because they don’t require as much time to reload. For this reason, it’s technically illegal for private citizens to own a fully automatic weapon, though loopholes do exist.
Bump stocks, however, enable a semi-automatic weapon to fire at nearly the rate of an automatic weapon.
But how?
When a gun is fired without a bump stock, the force of the shot pushes the gun backwards, towards the shoulder of the shooter. A bump stock, however, is held between the shoulder and the gun, and bumps the gun back and forth against the shoulder and the trigger finger harnesses the energy from the gun’s kickback, as shown in the video below:
The NRA’s statement is somewhat uncharacteristic, given their history of opposition to firearm regulation. After 20 children and six staff members were murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called on Congress to add more armed security to schools, rather than engage in a “lengthy debate” over new gun legislation. He infamously responded to the tragedy with the words, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
And after the 2016 Orlando shooting, in which 49 people were murdered at a gay nightclub, the NRA released a similar response. Though the shooter was able to legally purchase an assault rifle at a Florida gun shop despite having been placed on an FBI terrorist watch list, NRA spokesman Chris Cox wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in which he blamed the massacre on terrorism instead of insubstantial gun protection laws.
Related: It’s Time to Talk About Gun Control
Wait. So why would the NRA support regulation of bump stocks?
One major reason can be attributed to growing public outrage over the lack of action taken by Congress and other political institutions after mass shootings. The two-party system in America has grown increasingly divisive, and any type of bipartisan legislation that brings Republicans and Democrats together would provide a welcome change for those who are frustrated by the current political climate. If Republicans have the public support of the NRA it will be easier to introduce bipartisan legislation with the support of their constituents. However, public outcry and bipartisan PR is not the only factor influencing the NRA’s support of gun regulation.
The reality is that bump stocks likely don’t matter to the NRA. In fact, they used to be so unpopular that many gun stores didn’t sell them. And since most gun owners don’t use bump stocks, the NRA doesn’t have much to lose by supporting regulation of the parts. In fact, the devices inhibit accuracy so much that they’re banned on shooting ranges. Ironically, since the NRA’s statement, prices of bump stocks have sharply increased as gun owners have begun purchasing the parts in fear that they will soon be banned. Some retailers have even reported running out of the product due to high demand.
In an interview with ABC News, UCLA law professor Adam Winkler explained that the NRA wouldn’t suggest banning bump stocks if they were actually significant.
“They’re dismissed as silly gadgets that really inhibit the accuracy of a firearm,” he said. “If these bump stocks were super popular among gun owners, we’d see a very different position from the NRA.”
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