After massacre of Las Vegas, debate about a slight tightening of gun law in US takes a bit of a ride. White House and representatives of conservative Republicans showed up on Thursday openly for a ban on devices with which semi-automatic can be converted into fully automatic weapons. Even powerful arms lobby NRA spoke out for increased control of se bump stocks. Which is like a small revolution. The assassin Stephen Paddock had fired thousands of shots at a country festival on Sunday. He killed 58 people and injured nearly 500 more. Around a dozen of his rifles were equipped with bump stocks. Partly he fired from his hotel room 90 shots in ten seconds. The plastic attachment, for under 100 dollars, replaces grip and shank and causes trigger of gun to be pushed back against curved index finger after each shot and triggers next shot. So a magazine can be fired empty in a train, shooter has a quasi fully automatic rifle in his hands. According to police, Paddock had twelve bump stocks.
“No one should have a device that converts a semi-automatic rifle into something like a machine gun,” said Democratic MEP David Cicilline, and filed a bill for banning bump stocks. A similar initiative was taken by Democrats in Senate. The Republicans, as a rule, strictly against tightening of arms law, showed mselves open to conversation. “This is clearly one thing we have to deal with,” said chairman of House of Representatives, Paul Ryan. Also some Republican senators signaled consent. Even influential arms Lobby National Rifle Association (NRA) spoke out for sharper regulations. “The NRA believes that devices with which semi-automatic rifles can function as fully automatic should be subject to additional rules,” said ir bosses Wayne La Pierre and Chris Cox. The White House spokeswoman welcomed proposals and said that government was “happy to be part of debate”.
