Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.) is blaming Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for blocking a bill that would ban a device that likely allowed the Las Vegas gunman to fire semi-automatic weapons more rapidly.
“The problem is we need Speaker Ryan to find the courage to just bring it up for a vote,” Moulton told The Hill.
Moulton called on Ryan “to do his job as the Speaker of the House and allow a debate and vote on this issue that the vast majority of Americans — Democrats, Republicans, even NRA members — support.”
{mosads}After the mass shooting in Last Vegas in early October, Moulton joined Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) in authoring the only bipartisan gun bill to come out of the House.
If passed, their bill would ban the manufacture, sale and use of bump stocks — devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to simulate automatic fire.
Moulton told The Hill that the bill has a growing list of co-sponsors, but GOP leadership hasn’t signaled that they will bring it to the floor for a vote.
The National Rifle Association announced last month that it opposed the legislation introduced by Curbelo, as well as similar legislation in the Senate that would ban bump stocks.
The NRA has called on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to review bump stocks, saying the devices “should be subject to additional regulation.”
Authorities said 12 bump stocks were found in the gunman’s hotel room in Las Vegas, from where he killed 58 people and injured 500 more at an outdoor country music festival.