The Maine Gun Safety Coalition says the Trump administration’s move to ban bump-fire stocks is a positive move, but that it’s too soon to celebrate.
Coalition Executive Director Geoff Bickford says that’s because the ban takes the form of an amendment to Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms regulations rather than a new law.
“Because this is an agency opinion it’s not as ironclad as a law passed by Congress, so there could be an injunction immediately,” he says. "The quickest and best way to make sure that bump stocks are no longer available for public use is to ban them at the federal and state level, and we encourage Congress and our lawmakers in Augusta to take up that challenge."
The Gun Owners of America has already said it plans to file a legal challenge.
Bump stocks can make semiautomatic weapons fire rapidly, like machine guns. The new rules are scheduled to go into effect in late March. An anonymous Justice Department official told the Associated Press that owners of bump stocks will then be required to either surrender them to the ATF or destroy them.
An email for comment to the NRA’s Maine field representative wasn’t immediately returned.
