A bill to outlaw gun bump stocks, which allow users to fire multiple rounds with a single trigger squeeze, is awaiting a floor vote in the Michigan Senate. That’s after a Senate committee gave its OK to the legislation earlier this week.
Bump stocks were used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that was the deadliest in U.S. history. The shooter expended 1,049 rounds in 10 minutes, investigators said, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds of others.
Michigan Senator Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia) said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ban on bump stocks still left room for state or congressional action.
“In the absence of action from Congress, it’s now up to our state legislators to enact laws that will protect the safety of our citizens,” she said in a hearing before the Michigan Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
Polehanki wants to add bump stocks to the state law that already bans most people from owning bombs and machine guns. The Senate committee also approved a bill to outlaw so-called “ghost guns” that don’t have serial numbers.
“This legislative action is crucial to ensure that our state laws reflect the intent to prevent the use of devices that can significantly increase the lethality of firearms,” she said. “This is a necessary step to enhance public safety and prevent potential misuse of these deadly devices.”
Gun-rights organization argue the bills would make criminals of law-abiding citizens without addressing the root causes of gun violence.
Brendan Boudreau, executive director of Great Lakes Gun Rights, said the bills would turn many currently lawful gun owners into criminals.
“The common theme with these bills is the claim that these bills are about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, yet what we see in these bills is actually the goal of turning as many gun owners into criminals as possible,” he said.
The committee also adopted a bill to codify into state law a rule that bans guns in the state Capitol and House and Senate office buildings. There is an exception for law enforcement and legislators who have concealed pistol permits.
