People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gunfire was heard on Oct. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman, using a bump stock on a rifle, opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, leaving at least 60 people dead and hundreds more injured. Those were the words of Samuel Alito in his concurring opinion on the Supreme Court’s ruling last week invalidating the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ rule banning so-called bump stocks.
What’s notable, too, is that the ATF rule was approved in 2018, when Donald Trump was president. Trump acted following the Las Vegas mass shootingattending a concert, killing close to 60 and injuring over 400 more. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, so shocking that even a president who had campaigned in 2016 on the highly questionable notion that the Second Amendment was “under siege” felt compelled to act.
So we wouldn’t bet on Trump using his influence to do the right thing on bump stocks. But we would hope he’s at least giving it some thought. If Trump gave the word that Republican lawmakers ought to codify his bump stock ban , it would sail through Congress. There would be nothing but positives, both for the country and for Trump, if he does so.