After the Massachusetts Legislature sped restrictions on bump stocks, a tool to increase the firing rate of guns, through the legislative process, senators opened the issue up to a public hearing.

No members of the public showed up.

"I was not going to ask most of our people to take a day off and come to the Statehouse to talk about something that already happened," said Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners' Action League of Massachusetts.

Bump stocks gained national notoriety after the man who killed 58 people and injured hundreds at a Las Vegas concert used a bump stock to turn a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic one. Automatic guns are illegal. The federal government and some states are now considering banning bump stocks.

In Massachusetts, the Senate and House passed different versions of bump stock restrictions as part of a budget bill.

The Senate language would classify bump stocks and trigger cranks the same way as machine guns. A trigger crank is another mechanism to speed up a gun's ability to fire. This would allow someone to get the device only after obtaining a particular type of license. For example, a gun collector or a firearm instructor who trains police officers could get one.

The House language would outlaw any device designed to increase the rate of discharge of a rifle. Anyone who modifies a rifle to increase its rate of firing would be punished by three to 20 years in prison.

The bills must be reconciled before a final version can be passed.

The bills were passed quickly without any public hearing. The Las Vegas shooting happened Oct. 1, the House introduced and passed a ban Oct. 11 and the Senate followed Oct. 12.

Asked about the lack of a hearing on the day of the House vote, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said, "The bump stock was something that just wasn't looked at. It was an oversight on our behalf, and because of that, I think that it's most important we take it up and we take it up immediately, and we show Massachusetts is the number one state in the country when it comes to battling gun violence."

DeLeo said if gun owners hear about the ban on social media or in the news media, "They make sure their views are known."

The Senate called the hearing as way to get public input on the two versions of the bill.

Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, Senate chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, said due to "unique circumstances," the language was drafted outside the typical committee process and there was limited opportunity for public input. Moore said he wanted people to help lawmakers decide on the final language.

But at a hearing on Wednesday, no members of the public showed up.

The only person to testify was Rep. Donald Berthiaume, R-Spencer, who was one of three state representatives to vote against the ban.

Berthiaume said he has no problem with the concept. "I've never heard of a bump stock ever or trigger crank, and I've been shooting since I was a little kid," Berthiaume said. Berthiaume said gun shop owners refer to bump stocks as a "novelty" item, which make rifles shoot quickly but inaccurately.

Berthiaume said he voted against the House language because it was overly vague, but he supports the Senate language.

Sen. Will Brownsberger, D-Belmont, Senate chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he has heard from some gun owners who oppose any new regulations. Others worried that the House language is overly broad and could have unintended consequences, like criminalizing someone who maintains or replaces parts on a gun.

"A great many gun owners did express a strong preference for the idea that we should have a very clear definition along the lines presented in Senate draft," Brownsberger said.

"Anything that's ambiguous or vague makes them extremely uncomfortable," Brownsberger said. "They want to know what they have to do."

Wallace, who came to the hearing but did not testify, said his organization is reluctant to enter into conversations with lawmakers after Attorney General Maura Healey banned "copycat" assault rifles last year, and the Legislature did nothing.

Wallace called the process of passing bump stock restrictions without a public hearing "extremely flawed." But he said he saw no point in testifying about something that is already a "done deal."

Wallace said the House version could criminalize someone who cleans a gun or gets a custom bolt on a rifle, if that makes the gun shoot faster. He said the Senate bill is clearer. "If we were put into a corner and forced to choose, I would not choose the one that puts lawful people in prison and would choose the one that's more concise," Wallace said.

The bill does not specify what will happen to someone who already owns a bump stock or trigger crank. Brownsberger said he hopes lawmakers will give that issue more thought in drafting final language.