House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said he’s open to a vote on “bump stocks” as other members of Congress call for hearings on the device.

“Look, I didn’t even know what they were until this week, and I’m an avid sportsman,” Mr. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said on MNBC in a taped interview set. “I think we’re fully coming up to speed with what this is.”

“Apparently this allows you to take a semi-automatic and turn it into a fully automatic, so clearly that’s something that we need to look into,” he explained.

Mr. Ryan said he’s open to hearings on the device, which fellow lawmakers like Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, Texas Republican, have already called for.

The “bump stock” device came to the forefront of the gun law debate this week after law enforcement officials revealed the gunman in Sunday’s massacre in Las Vegas used it to fire more bullets quickly. The shooting left 58 people dead and 489 injured. The gunman, Stephen Paddock, had a stockpile of 23 guns in his room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Police found another 19 at his Mesquite, Nevada, home and seven at a Reno property.

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