Ban On Bump Stocks Moves Forward

May 3, 2018

These supposedly simple add-ons to semiautomatic weapons enable legal guns to fire as rapidly as illegal automatic firearms.

Bump stocks became part of the vernacular following the Las Vegas massacre last October at the Mandalay Bay Resort. The gunman had an arsenal that included 12 semiautomatic weapons fitted with bump stocks.

Firing nonstop and indiscriminately at a packed outdoor concert below – he murdered 58 innocent people and wounded more than 500 others.

In testimony on House Bill during a public hearing before the Judiciary Committee, CT police chiefs spoke in favor of a bump stock ban. These weapon accessories serve no other purpose than to increase the rate of fire to maximize the number of dead and wounded. They are intended to circumvent the law and there's simply no place for them in our state.

I'm hopeful we'll also take up a vote on banning ghost guns -- guns assembled from parts purchased online which lack the registration numbers required on legal firearms and the assurances of safety we expect from authorized manufacturers. Again, they exist to circumvent the law. Not in our state!