Wayne LaPierre, NRA CEO, said in a joint statement with another top NRA official that devices "designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations." | Win McNamee/Getty Images NRA moves to head off gun control fight in Congress The influential gun lobby calls for new regulations — not legislation — to ban so-called 'bump stocks.'

The National Rifle Association on Thursday called on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to review whether "bump stocks" — similar to the devices used in Sunday's Las Vegas shooting massacre — comply with federal law.

“The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre and Executive Director Chris Cox added in a joint statement.


The move by the influential gun lobby, which often stifles any legislation that might be interpreted as curbing Second Amendment rights, is designed to head off a messy gun control debate in Congress. Officials with the group have told Capitol Hill Republicans and Trump administration officials they would prefer a new rule or regulations from ATF, rather than hastily cobbled together legislation.

The NRA and its allies in the gun-rights movement want to avoid the airing in Congress of controversial issues such as universal background checks on gun sales, a ban on assault weapons and limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that the Trump administration is “open to” reviewing its policy on bump stocks.

“We’re certainly open to that moving forward,” Sanders said during a White House briefing on Thursday. “We want to be part of that conversation as it takes place in the coming days and weeks.”

Sources familiar with the NRA’s thinking note that federal law prohibits semi-automatic weapons from being modified for automatic fire. And the NRA would like the AFT to re-examine that question.

The NRA is suggesting the administration revisit a 2010 ATF ruling — made during the Obama administration — that allowed the sale of such accessories.

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The debate over bump stocks is a setback for the NRA and gun-rights groups, which believed that Trump's victory in 2016 — combined with GOP control of both the House and Senate — meant they could roll back some of the restrictions imposed on gun owners during the Obama era.

The NRA had thrown its weight behind legislation offered by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) to ease restrictions on the sales of gun silencers, or suppressors.

Later in the day, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is recovering after being shot in June during a Republican congressional baseball practice, cautioned his colleagues not to rush legislation on the topic.

"A week ago most people didn't know — a few people, but most people didn't know — what a bump stock was," Scalise told NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview that will air in full on Sunday on "Meet the Press." "So to think that we're now all experts and know how to write some, you know, panacea law, it's fallacy. Let's focus on the facts."

That controversial provision, part of the the larger "Sportmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement" Act, was expected to be on the House floor soon. After the Las Vegas shooting, it was postponed indefinitely.

The NRA is also advocating for the "concealed carry reciprocity" bill offered by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), which would allow any gun owner with a concealed-carry permit to take their weapon to another state that allows concealed carry.

While Senate Democrats were expected to block both bills if they passed the House, the fact that the debate is once again about gun control — and how to prevent mass shootings — is uncomfortable territory for the NRA and its allies on the Hill.

The bump stock debate ignited earlier this week following revelations that Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter — who killed 58 people and wounded almost 500 — used weapons modified with the devices to spray a country music concert crowd with bullets from a hotel suite window.

The device allowed Paddock to fire 400 to 600 rounds per minute.

Republicans on the Hill have signaled an openness to considering legislation to curb the use of bump stocks. Speaker Paul Ryan said lawmakers should look at the matter, and the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn (R-Texas), said he also wanted to examine the issue.

On Capitol Hill, Republican senators who had expressed openness to reviewing the issue said they had heard little from the NRA. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who earlier voiced support for legislation to ban bump stocks, said on Thursday that he had not heard any pushback from the lobbying organization.

“I haven’t, no,” Johnson said.

Indeed, Cornyn and John Thune of South Dakota, the second- and third-ranking Senate GOP leaders, said they’d received no pushback from the NRA after expressing openness to reviewing the issue.

“It’s not uncommon for them to be kind of quiet after things like this happen,” said a Senate Republican of the NRA's response to the Las Vegas shooting.

Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described how bump stocks work.