Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s ‘Bump Stock’ Ban to Get Hearing December 6

Sen. Diane Feinstein’s (D-CA) bump stock ban will get a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 6.

Feinstein began pushing a bump stock ban after Stephen Paddock used them criminally in the October 1 Las Vegas Attack.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), one of Feinstein’s allies in this gun control endeavor, called for hearings on a bump stock ban three days after the attack.

According to the Sacramento Bee, the December 6 hearing will focus on bump stocks and other gun legislation being pushed by Cornyn and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). Cornyn and Murphy are pushing legislation revolving around background checks, with Murphy calling it “the most important piece of bipartisan guns legislation since Manchin-Toomey.” (Manchin-Toomey was the unsuccessful push for gun control via expanded background checks in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack.)

The Bee inaccurately reports that that bump stocks “allow a gun owner to turn a semi-automatic weapon into an illegal automatic one.” This is indicative of the kind of the reporting that swirled around bump stocks as soon it was learned that Paddock had the devices on some of his guns.

In reality bump stocks are ATF-approved and they were approved because the ATF recognized them as an accessory rather than a conversion device. In other words, a bump stock does not turn a semiautomatic into an automatic. Rather, it allows a semiautomatic gun owner to mimic automatic gunfire in short bursts, but the gun owner gives up accuracy to accomplish this. The loss of accuracy is so significant that Daily Beast editor Justin Miller quoted U.S. Army Sergeant First Class special forces soldier Tony Cowden suggesting the Vegas attacker could have been much deadlier if he had not used a bump stock:

Ultimately, the push for a bump stock ban, and Feinstein and Cornyn’s calls for hearings on bump stocks, simply open the door to more gun control for gun control’s sake.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com