Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said he plans to ban bump stocks and other gun enhancements that increase the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons in the coming days.
The state House approved a bill banning bump stocks last week, and on Tuesday night, the state Senate voted similarly. Malloy said he plans to sign the bill into law.
“I have yet to hear one legitimate reason why anyone needs to own a device that can fire 90 bullets every 10 seconds,” Malloy said in a statement. “This vote today shows that we — as policymakers in Connecticut — are listening to the overwhelming, collective voices of the people and not powerful lobbyists from the NRA, who are fighting for opposing interests.”
Connecticut, a largely Democratic state, has been one of the leaders in gun control legislation since the 2012 shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Bump stocks are devices that attach to a firearm that enable a shooter to fire bullets rapidly, mimicking automatic gunfire.
The focus on banning bump stocks, or bump-fire stocks, stems from the mass shooting in Las Vegas last October. The shooter in that case used bump stocks to fire with an automatic rate down on a crowd of concert-goers, killing 58 people and injuring almost 500 others. Twelve bump-fire stocks were found on firearms in his hotel room, authorities said.
