FILE - Shooting instructor Frankie McRae demonstrates the grip on an AR-15 rifle fitted with a “bump stock” at his 37 PSR Gun Club in Bunnlevel, N.C., on Oct. 4, 2017. Gun accessories known as bump stocks hit the market more than a decade ago. The U.S. government initially concluded that the devices that make semi-automatic weapons fire faster didn’t violate a federal ban on machine guns.
According to court documents, more than 520,000 bump stocks were in circulation by the time the Washington reversed course and imposed a ban that took effect in 2019.More than 22,000 people were attending a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, when a gunman opened fire on the crowd from the window of his high-rise hotel room.
Authorities found an arsenal of 23 assault-style rifles in the shooter’s hotel room, including 14 weapons fitted with bump stocks. Investigators later concluded the gunman, who killed himself before police reached his room, fired more than 1,000 rounds in just 11 minutes. According to court records, Cargill bought two bump stocks in 2018 and then surrendered them once the federal ban took effect.