A South Carolina mayor said on Thursday that he plans to introduce a new law to ban bump stocks and trigger cranks.
Democratic mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia said he is planning on introducing the city ordinance on weapons like what were used in the Las Vegas massacre last month.
‘I believe in responsible gun ownership, and I believe in common sense,’ Benjamin said Wednesday announcing the ordinance, according to ABC News.
‘That’s why I’ve decided to do what our federal and statement governments are either unable or unwilling to do.’
Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia said he is planning on introducing the city ordinance on weapons like what were used in the Las Vegas massacre last month
Benjamin didn’t say when the ordinance will go into place, but is planning on holding a conference to further explain his plan on Thursday afternoon. He made the announcement just six weeks after Stephen Paddock murdered 58 people in Las Vegas. Bump stocks allowed his weapons to function like fully automatic rifles
He continued: ‘The simple fact is that automatic weapons have been illegal in this country for more than 30 years, and the only purpose these devices serve is to circumvent that law multiplying firing rates tenfold to approximately 400-800 rounds per minute and turning a semi-automatic firearm into a mass murder machine.’
Benjamin didn’t say when the ordinance will go into place, but is planning on holding a conference to further explain his plan on Thursday afternoon.
He made the announcement just six weeks after Stephen Paddock murdered 58 people in Las Vegas.
On October 1 he opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay hotel and casino during the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.
The 64-year-old used bump stocks to modify some of the weapons he used in the attack, allowing his semi-automatic rifles to mimic fully automatic weapons.
Bump stocks, also called replacement stocks, work by allowing AR or AK rifles to fire at up to 800 rounds per minute by pulling the trigger repeatedly each time the gun recoils.
Similarly, trigger cranks or ‘gat cranks’ bolt onto the trigger guard of a semi-automatic rifle and allow the shooter to rotate the crank, depressing the trigger roughly three times per rotation.
Those modifications meant he could fire up to nine rounds per second; the attack lasted roughly 10 minutes. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives he had 12 bump stocks attached to rifles in the hotel room.
Earlier this month three South Carolina representatives also announced that they drafted a bill to ban bump stocks for the legislature to consider when it comes back from recess in January. This bill was also introduced in response to the Las Vegas shooting (pictured)
Trigger cranks or ‘gat cranks’ bolt onto the trigger guard of a semi-automatic rifle and allow the shooter to rotate the crank, depressing the trigger roughly three times per rotation
Bump stocks, also called replacement stocks, work by allowing AR or AK rifles to fire at up to 800 rounds per minute by pulling the trigger repeatedly each time the gun recoils
The shooting prompted renewed support for legislation to ban bump fire stocks, but so far no Congressional action has been taken.
Earlier this month three South Carolina representatives also announced that they drafted a bill to ban bump stocks for the legislature to consider when it comes back from recess in January.
Those representatives include two republicans, Michael Sottile and Gary Clary, and one democrat Leon Stavrinakis.
‘Simply put, the use of bump stocks is a loophole that allows firearms to replicate illegal ones,’ Stavrikakis explained when he announced the bill.
‘As we have so unfortunately now learned, in the wrong hands, bump stocks can be a tool for mass murder.
‘These devices can turn our community into a killing field where neither civilians nor law enforcement has a chance in the line of fire.’
On November 6 Massachusetts passed a law banning the sale, possession or use of bump stocks – the first state to do so.