The National Rifle Association told the Free Beacon Wednesday that the organization does not support a new bill introduced in Congress that bans after-market add-ons to semi-automatic rifles that increase their rate of fire, such as bump fire stocks like the ones reportedly used by the Las Vegas shooter earlier this month.
While the NRA issued a statement last week calling for an ATF review of bump fire stocks, the group now says they can’t get behind the proposed bill, which goes far beyond restricting just this one accessory. As Stephen Gutowski pointed out for the Free Beacon:
The text of the bill goes beyond banning bump fire stocks, however. Instead, in addition to banning bump fire stocks and requiring their surrendering or confiscation, it bans and requires the surrendering or confiscation of any part that increases how quickly a semi-automatic rifle can be fired.
"It shall be unlawful for any person—in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, to manufacture, possess, or transfer any part or combination of parts that is designed and functions to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but does not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machinegun," the bill reads, "or to manufacture, possess, or transfer any such part or combination of parts that have been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.’"
The language of the bill may ban the manufacture, sale, or possession of aftermarket triggers, bolts, or other components that have any effect on increasing a rifle's rate of fire.
In response, an NRA spokesperson told the Free Beacon that the pro-Second Amendment group would not support the bill, which was introduced by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R., Fla.) and backed by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.
"We are opposed to the Feinstein and Curbelo legislation," Jennifer Baker, a spokesperson for the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, told the Washington Free Beacon.