WASHINGTON — Months before President Donald Trump announced that he would ban bump stocks in the wake of the deadly Las Vegas mass shooting, Doug Alexander spent $300 on the accessory to show off at the gun range.

“I’ll be real honest with you, the bump stock, I bought it as a toy because it looked cool,” the Abilene resident and Air Force veteran said of the gun device that allows a semi-automatic rifle to fire at nearly automatic rates.

Although Alexander purchased the device legally more than a year ago, he’s now among tens of thousands of bump stock owners whose expensive accessories face an uncertain fate under a proposed federal ban of the devices.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that more than half a million people own bump stocks in a report released March 29 for the agency’s proposed bump stock ban. The report also found that 2,281 retailers and two bump stock manufacturers would be impacted by a ban. The proposal is expected to cost the industry, public and the government more than $200 million in a 10-year time span.

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Alexander, a 61-year-old Dallas native, purchased his bump stock from Slide Fire, the country’s leading bump stock manufacturer based in the tiny Texas town of Moran, 40 miles east of Abilene.

“I thought it was cool that they were producing this, and I kind of figured I was helping the local economy, too,” he said.

ATF posted the proposed ban at the end of March, which requires a 90-day public comment period. The change would revise the agency's definition of a machine gun to include "bump-stock-type devices," despite a 2010 decision that determined bump stocks can't be classified as a machine gun.

Under pressure after mass shootings around the country, Trump ordered the Justice Department and ATF to ban the devices. Bump stocks were found in the Las Vegas shooter’s hotel room, but they were not used in the Florida high school rampage in February or the massacre at the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church in November.

"Bump stocks are going to be gone," Trump vowed last month.

Obama Administration legalized bump stocks. BAD IDEA. As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period. We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018

Since ATF posted the proposal, more than 14,000 people have commented ahead of a June 27 deadline. Many online commenters voiced their opposition to the ban, arguing that the agency does not have the authority to ban the device. During an initial 30-day comment period, the agency received more than 100,000 comments on its draft of the bump stock ban. An analysis by The Trace, a media organization that reports on gun-related news, found that 85 percent of commenters on the draft ban opposed regulation.

Cost of destroying bump stocks

Gun owners like Alexander question how to enforce a bump stock ban.

Under the ban, retailers and private citizens would be required to destroy the device themselves or turn it into an ATF office. The bureau estimates that it would cost $1.8 million to destroy all existing bump stocks.

“Since the majority of bump-stock-type devices are made of plastic material, individuals wishing to destroy the devices themselves could simply use a hammer to break apart the devices and throw the pieces away,” the proposal reads.

ATF’s proposal does not mention any compensation for those who paid $180 to $400 for their device.

Some gun store owners in Texas say they’re not worried about losing a few sales or the cost of destroying their inventory. They’re mostly concerned about the government infringing on their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Michael Cargill, owner of Austin-based Central Texas Gun Works, said the recommendation goes against gun control advocates’ promises that they don’t want to take away guns: “That’s exactly what they’re doing.”

Cargill hasn’t been able to restock his inventory since October, when his remaining 23 bump stocks flew off the shelves after the Vegas shooting. After ATF announced the ban, Cargill said it “backed up everything around the whole country.”

Now that a ban seems likely, Cargill said, he won’t name friends or customers who already own one.

“I wouldn’t even tell you if I own one at this point because they’re going to ban them,” he said. “I’m going to plead the Fifth.”

Taylor Graaf, a manager at Ray’s Hardware & Sporting Goods Store in Dallas, said his store won’t lose money if there’s a ban because they rarely keep any in stock — they’re just not that popular. The store sold four guns on consignment immediately after the Vegas shooting because bump stocks were attached to them.

“After Vegas, the amount of times bump stock came out of someone’s mouth was a million percent more than in 20 years,” Graaf said.

His store wouldn't be impacted by a bump stock ban, but it would be affected if the rule were written broadly enough to ban any gun modification, like an aftermarket trigger.

“Most people that are really pro-gun all kind of agree that we don’t really care about bump stocks,” he said. “But obviously the fear is that when once you start taking things, when does it stop.”

‘I’m not ashamed of it’

Slide Fire’s Facebook account shared a video last week by “The Gun Collective” that railed against the possible bump stock ban.

“ATF is about to retroactively make you a criminal if you own a bump stock,” the video says. “This is obviously a huge problem. I’ll be drafting a comment in opposition to the notice, and I hope you all will, too.”

The video calls on gun owners to submit comments in opposition of the ban and “overreach of the executive branch.”

And one week before that, the Slide Fire account shared an article by Reason magazine titled "Sessions distorts the law to give Trump the bump stock ban he demanded."

Although Slide Fire did not include its own Facebook comment on the article or video, it’s the first time the company has shown any kind of opinion on the possible ban. Slide Fire's owner, Jeremiah Cottle, has stayed away from getting involved in the debate. Cottle and the company did not return repeated requests for comment.

After the Vegas shooting, Alexander, who owns one of Slide Fire’s bump stocks, removed photos of his $300 accessory from his social media accounts.

“It’s not that I’m ashamed of it,” Alexander said. “It’s that I didn’t want to find the nut who wants to come and make an example of me or whatever.”

He’s not thrilled that a ban seems likely under the Trump administration, but he doesn’t plan on barricading himself and his bump stock in his home if the government bans them.

“If my — oh good Lord — if my commander-in-chief says so, well I guess I’ll follow him,” Alexander said. “I don’t want to, but I probably will.”