Nevada lawmakers respond to bump stock ruling; devices used in the Las Vegas mass shooting

The accessory allowed the shooter to fire 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes over October 1

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Nevada’s congressional delegation and state leaders responded Friday to a 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a gun accessory banned after the Oct. 1 shooting.

A majority of the Supreme Court held that Congress, not the executive branch, had the authority to prohibit bump stocks. In 2019, the Trump administration banned the devices through regulatory measures, defining them as machine gun components. Bump wrestling remains illegal under Nevada law.

Stephen Paddock killed 58 people attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival on October 1, 2017 – an event now known in Las Vegas as October 1st. Since then, two more fatalities have been added to the total, bringing the total to 60. Thanks to the larger stock, Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds in 11 minutes, officials said.

In the wake of the shooting, Southern Nevada’s congressional delegation urged Congress to pass a ban. In particular, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip, pushed for a federal ban.

“What a travesty this court is,” Tytus said in a video published in front of the Supreme Court building. “The American public knows we don’t need weapons of war on our streets, so now let’s pass my BUMP Action Act and address this problem.”

“There is no place on our streets for actions like those used during the massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, which left 60 people dead and hundreds injured,” said Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. The court’s decision to overturn President Trump’s 2019 executive order “I now call on Congress to urgently pass commonsense legislation to save lives by permanently banning these destructive devices.”

“I am outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the Trump-era federal ban on the guns used in the October 1 shooting, making it the deadliest in U.S. history,” he added. said Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen. “For years, this ban has been a common-sense, bipartisan approach to keeping communities safe, and this shameful decision will put more lives at risk. It is more important than ever for Congress to unite on a bipartisan basis and pass legislation to permanently ban bump stocks.

“Once again, Donald Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court has put the interests of corporations, in this case the gun lobby, ahead of the lives of ordinary Americans,” said Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford. “October 1, 2017 was a traumatic day for the Las Vegas community and a watershed moment for our nation. Unfortunately, on that day the largest mass shooting in our country took place at the hands of a shooter and his use of a stock – sixty people were killed and 867 were injured, who are still struggling with the effects of the shooting. Today, the Supreme Court sided with violent criminals and opposed our right to live in our communities free from gun violence. It can’t stand. That’s why I voted for the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which now became law, co-sponsored legislation to end wrestling, and authored the Breaking the Cycle of Violence Act, which aims to stop crime before it starts, save lives, and end it. cycle of violence in all our communities.”

“The wrestling ban was a direct consequence of the October 1 shooting that caused much pain and sadness in our community,” said Aaron Ford, attorney general for Democratic Nevada. “Las Vegans and Nevadans have seen firsthand the carnage these devices can cause, and it saddens me that such violence was not enough for the six judges on the court. Today’s decision is the latest example of the court abdicating its responsibility to the American public. It seems that the court would rather take an ideological stance and ignore the blood on our streets than allow such common-sense regulations as the ban on wrestling to be implemented. I am saddened by today’s decision and urge Congress to act quickly to restore the stockpile ban through legislative efforts.”

According to the Associated Press, there were more than 500,000 stocks in circulation when the 2019 order went into effect.