HARRISBURG – On Tuesday Gov. Tom Wolf threw his support behind commonsense bipartisan proposals to ban the ‘bump-stock’ accessory for military-style weapons used in the Las Vegas massacre that killed and injured nearly 600 concertgoers.
“Bipartisan legislators are rightfully sounding the alarm that these devices should not be legal in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said.
“Given the bipartisan nature, this should be commonsense for the General Assembly to swiftly pass to protect Pennsylvanians.”
“The massacre in Las Vegas was made worse by the shooter’s ability to fire his military-grade weapons more rapidly at concertgoers and police.
“We can take a commonsense step to protect citizens and law enforcement by banning these unnecessary and dangerous accessories.”
Since the shooting in Las Vegas, two Democratic representatives, Reps. Madeleine Dean and Dom Costa, a former police officer, and a Republican senator, Sen. Pat Browne, have announced their plans to introduce legislation banning bump-stocks in Pennsylvania.
A ‘bump-stock’ replaces a rifle’s typical stock, which is held against the shoulder, and allows the weapon to slide back and forth, which uses the kickback of the weapon to allow the shooter to fire at a much more rapid rate, particularly with a military-grade rifle.
The Pennsylvania crimes code currently bans “offensive weapons,” which includes items such as machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and grenades. Violation of this section carries a penalty of a first degree misdemeanor.
Dean’s and Costa’s proposal would add “multiburst trigger activators” like bump stocks to the list of offensive weapons and includes items such as binary triggers and slide fire/bump stocks—like the one used in the Las Vegas shooting.