Columbia could be the first city in the nation to ban bump stocks + trigger cranks – attachments that turn semi-automatic guns (legal) into guns that act like fully-automatic weapons (illegal).
Mayor Steve Benjamin has proposed a City ordinance that would outlaw these accessories for civilian use. They’d still be legal to own. On the state level, some lawmakers are proposing outlawing both use + ownership of the devices.
Some definitions are necessary for this one.
- A semi-automatic weapon (which is legal in the U.S.) reloads rounds automatically, but the trigger has to be pulled to fire each round (essentially one shot).
- A bump stock is a device that alters legal rifles into illegal, almost-fully automatic weapons. (Bump stocks simulate the same action of an automatic firearm, but they are not fully automatic, which is why they haven’t been banned).
- An automatic weapon can fire rounds rapidly + consecutively when its trigger is pulled just once.
After the Las Vegas shooting (where the gunman was found with 12 weapons altered with bump stocks), The National Rifle Association made a statement supporting a ban on these devices, but no federal action has been taken.
