WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats sought to pass legislation Tuesday banning bump stocks for firearms after the Supreme Court overruled a previous ban, but a single Republican objected on behalf of his party, effectively stalling the bill.
Backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., sought “unanimous consent” to pass his BUMP Act that would prohibit the devices, which modify semi-automatic weapons to fire bullets more quickly.
The New Mexico senator said he’s a firearm owner who sees no purpose for bump stocks other than to facilitate mass shootings, as in Las Vegas in 2017, when a gunman killed dozens of people at a music festival and more than 500 people were injured.
“The Las Vegas gunman was able to murder and injure so many so quickly because he used a deadly device known as a bump stock,” Heinrich said on the Senate floor. “There’s no legitimate use for a bump stock. Not for self-defense, not in a law enforcement context, not even in military applications as they’re less accurate than a standard fully automatic military platform. But what they are tailor-made for is a mass shooting.”
But the bill was met with an objection from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., blocking it from moving forward. The objection was backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republican senators, marking a turnaround after many of them championed a bump stock ban imposed by the Trump administration after the Las Vegas massacre.
Ricketts labeled the bill “a gun-grabbing overreach," saying it is written vaguely and could give the Biden administration power to target “common firearm accessories, not just bump stocks.”“That’s really, really scary,” Ricketts said, calling the measure an infringement on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
He labeled it “another day in the Democrat summer of show votes,” following recent votes on protections for IVF and contraception which were also blocked by Republicans.
The clash comes in the heat of an election year, when Republicans are running as staunch supporters of gun rights while President Joe Biden and Democrats call for stricter firearm laws.
The move Tuesday followed a Supreme Court decision last week saying the executive branch may not use existing law to ban bump stocks, although the 6-3 ruling along ideological lines kept the door open for Congress to regulate the accessories with a new law.
Unanimous consent is one mechanism for the Senate to pass legislation speedily, often used for non-controversial measures. Schumer can also bring the bump stock bill or other legislation up through the regular process, which takes more time and requires 60 votes to break a filibuster. That means at least 9 Republicans would have to support it if Democrats and independents stick together.
Before the unanimous consent request, Schumer didn’t say whether he’d bring up the bill through regular channels if it stalled, imploring Republicans to “see the light” and not block it.
“Many of them were extremely supportive of this when President Trump did it as a regulation,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump is hardly a friend to gun safety. But I’m just shocked that the Supreme Court will be even to the right of him.”
Heinrich warned that if Congress doesn’t prohibit bump stocks, “street gangs and cartels and mass shooters” may be able to access these devices “and turn them against our communities.”
He added: “This will not be the last time you hear about these devices on the floor of the Senate.”
