US to ban rapid-fire gun bump stocks

Washington: President Donald Trump has directed his attorney general to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks and similar devices "that turn legal weapons into machine guns," the president announced Tuesday.

Trump, speaking at the start of a Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House, said he expected the "critical" new regulations to be finalized soon.

A Justice Department review of bump stock regulations started in December, Trump said, after America's deadliest mass shooting in Las Vegas left 58 people dead. The gunman in that incident used bump stocks that allowed him to engage his weapon's trigger faster, making it fire similar to the rate of an automatic weapon.    

Regulations on bump stocks have garnered recent support from both sides of the gun control debate, but Trump's move goes further than the tepid support his administration had offered last year.

In the memo, Trump asked that the DOJ propose the rule "as expeditiously as possible," while also straying to call out the Obama administration for not taking action of their own.

"Although the Obama administration repeatedly concluded that particular bump stock type devices were lawful to purchase and possess," Trump's memo states, "I sought further clarification of the law restricting fully automatic machine guns."

President Barack Obama's administration repeatedly pressed for more gun control measures, especially in the wake of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, although at that time, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did ultimately decide it could not legally regulate bump stocks. It is unclear how Trump's administration believes it will avoid similar legal quandaries as it presses forward on the issue.