Republican senators on Tuesday blocked a bill that would have banned bump stocks, the gun add-ons that allow semiautomatic weapons to fire at a much higher rate with a single pull of the trigger.
But Nebraska's Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts objected to its passage, which kills the bill for the moment. Democratic Senators, later joined by Maine's Republican Sen. Susan Collins, introduced the bill after a federal court of appeals said early this year that Congress would have to legislate the legality of bump stocks.