Bump stocks allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns and were used in the Las Vegas shooting where 58 people died

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The US justice department is proposing rule changes that will effectively ban bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like a machine gun, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said on Friday.



Parkland students: our manifesto to change America's gun laws | Editorial staff of the Eagle Eye Read more

“After the senseless attack in Las Vegas, this proposed rule is a critical step in our effort to reduce the threat of gun violence that is in keeping with the constitution and the laws passed by Congress,” Sessions said in a statement.

Gunman Stephen Paddock used a bump stock in a massacre last October that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others at a music festival in Las Vegas.



In February, Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the justice department to make the regulatory change.



He hailed the move on Twitter on Friday. “As I promised, today the Department of Justice will issue the rule banning BUMP STOCKS with a mandated comment period,” he wrote. “We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.”

The National Rifle Association (NRA), the most powerful US gun lobby, supported more regulation of bump stocks but has not endorsed Trump’s ban and said previously it was awaiting the publication of the regulation before rendering judgment.

Trump has flip-flopped on gun control, proposing arming teachers while backing away from earlier support for raising age limits.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to turn out on Saturday for hundreds of rallies worldwide and in the US capital in the wake of the Florida school massacre.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died in an attack on 14 Feburary, have spearheaded what is being called the March for Our Lives.

It could become one of the largest marches in history with people turning out in Washington and more than 800 sister marches from California to Japan.

In Washington, students will walk down Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday alongside pop stars Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato.

The students are pressing for stricter gun control measures after the Florida attack.

On Friday, student editors took control of the Guardian’s website and published an array of articles, including an interview with independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who told them he believed the NRA’s grip on Congress “may be breaking a bit” because of their campaigning.

The Eagle Eye also published a manifesto of demands, including a call to ban the sale of high velocity semi-automatic weapons, expand background checks, and raise the minimum purchase age of rifles to 21.

Members of the Eagle Eye’s editorial staff will also travel to Washington to cover the march as special correspondents for the Guardian.