GOP shoots down Heinrich's push to ban bump stocks

Jun. 18—U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich led the charge Tuesday for a ban on bump stocks, saying the gun accessory is nothing more than a deadly device tailor-made for mass shootings.

"I know there are those who say, 'Guns don't kill people; people kill people,' " Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, said on the Senate floor as he urged his colleagues to outlaw bump stocks in the wake of last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down a federal ban on the devices.

"But the reality is this: Bump stocks kill and injure hundreds," Heinrich continued. "As someone who has owned and used firearms for most of my life — for hunting, sport and self-defense — I know for a fact that bump stocks serve no legitimate purpose."

Former President Donald Trump, a Republican, banned bump stocks after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., in which a shooter with a bump stock — a device that allows a semiautomatic weapon to be fired similarly to a machine gun — killed 60 people. The Supreme Court held in a 6-3 ruling last week that the executive action was unlawful.

Heinrich asked his colleagues to pass the so-called Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts (BUMP) Act through unanimous consent, a procedure in which a measure passes as long as no senator objects.

But Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts objected for Republicans, calling it a "show vote."

"The majority leader knows this bill will not pass," Ricketts said. "It won't pass because enough people in this building still believe in the Constitution, and the Constitution affords Americans the right to own a firearm. This vague, overreaching bill directly infringes upon that right."

Heinrich made an impassioned plea, starting off his comments — after acknowledging the fires in Ruidoso — with recollections of the music festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nev., the deadliest in modern U.S. history.

"In total, the shooter fired more than a thousand rounds of ammunition in just 10 minutes," Heinrich said.

"He killed 58 people that night, injured hundreds more, including two more who ultimately perished from their wounds," Heinrich added. "The Las Vegas gunman was able to murder and injure so many people so quickly because he used a deadly device known as a bump stock."

After the "horrific mass shooting" in Las Vegas, Heinrich said he led a bipartisan effort to ban bump stocks.

"We also called on then-President Trump to use his authority to ban bump stocks in a federal rule," he said. "President Trump actually agreed with us at the time and finalized an ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] rule to get that done. But last week, our wildly out-of-touch Supreme Court majority invalidated that rule in an illogical and deadly ruling. They made bump stocks legal once again."

Heinrich said Congress needed to act and pass the ban on bump stocks right away.

After Republicans blocked the effort, Heinrich said the BUMP Act reflected commonsense gun safety legislation.

"This will not be the last time you hear about these devices on the floor of the Senate," he said.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.