NYT: Bump Stock Ban Would Have Little Effect

Although polls show support for a bump stock among certain portions of the American public, an October 12  New York Times’ column shows that such a ban would have little effect.

In fact, the article equates a bump stock ban with micro-stamping gun controls that have floundered everywhere they have been implemented.

According to the NYT, the idea of a bump stock ban garnered over two-thirds support from voters in a recent poll, but there is little hope that such a ban would actually translate into “safety benefits.” After all, the stocks were approved by the ATF in 2010 and have not been used in a high profile crime until they were used in the Las Vegas attack.

Michigan State University professor April Zeoli commented, “Until now, bump stocks have been a non-issue in firearm homicide (mass or not).”

The NYT gathered a group of “experts,” including Zeoli, to look at the benefits of a ban on bump stocks. That group suggested “that banning bump stocks was likely to have a small effect on mass shooting fatalities.” They suggested a ban on the AR-15 accessories would actually be akin to “requiring gun owners to complete safety training and requiring technology that stamps each bullet with a mark that can trace it to a particular gun.”

Besides not delivering on real safety, a ban on bump stocks is problematic for the other bans it enables. On October 9 Breitbart News reported that the leading bump stock ban legislation–Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) Automatic Fire Prevention Act–already bans more than bump stocks and leaves the door open to banning other AR-15 accessories too. Combine this with the fact that Democrats supported nine different gun controls between Sunday and Wednesday of this week alone and it is not hard to see that a bump stock ban could lead to a slippery slope which would be perilous for gun rights in this country.

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