Following last month’s mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Massachusetts has become the first state to adopt a ban on bump stocks.
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On Friday, FOX News reported Republican Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito signed into law an “appropriations bill,” which would include the prohibition of devices that make semi-automatic rifles mimic the firing action of a fully automatic weapon.
This action means it will now be illegal to buy, sell or offer to sell bump stocks effective immediately, according to the governor’s office. Additionally, it will become unlawful to possess them in 90 days.
The Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, asked Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to veto the bump stock ban. Among the other objections made, the league said the potential penalties for possession of the devices “were too harsh.”
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Baker is on vacation at the moment, but expressed his support for banning bump stocks in the days after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Oct. 1, that found domestic terrorist Stephen Paddock opening fire on more than 20,000 concertgoers.
“Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Polito support the Second Amendment to the Constitution and Massachusetts’ strict gun laws, including the ban on assault weapons and bump stocks, and are pleased that the commonwealth continues to lead in passing common sense reforms,” said Baker administration spokesman Brendan Moss in a statement shared with the Boston Globe.
