Senate Republicans split over Trump-era bump stock ban

Senate Republicans are at odds over whether to outlaw bump stocks after the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban on the firearm accessory last week.

The divisions resurfaced when Senate Democrats unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to restore the ban on Tuesday as senators prepare to leave town for a two-week July 4 recess. The legislation did not receive a recorded vote, but an attempt to pass it through a legislative shortcut drew opposition from Republicans.

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), backed by most of his GOP colleagues, blocked the measure from being considered by unanimous consent.

The move represents the party’s long-standing resistance to gun restrictions. Former President Donald Trump implemented the ban on bump stocks following a mass shooting in Las Vegas, while more than a dozen Republicans voted for modest gun control measures in 2022 after a shooting in Texas. But Republicans, by and large, have no appetite for further restrictions except for a small group of centrists who buck the party on the 2nd Amendment and other issues.

“I would be in favor of that,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told the Washington Examiner of reimplementing the ban, though he warned Democrats against inserting “poison pills” that would turn away Republicans.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) expressed disappointment that the bill did not get considered under regular order; however, she is the co-author of the bipartisan BUMP Act that was brought forward.

“I think it’d be better to put it through committee and bring it to the floor,” Collins told the Washington Examiner.

The high court’s conservative majority ruled that a 2019 regulation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives outlawing the gun accessory, which allows semi-automatic weapons to fire more rapidly, overstepped its authority in the absence of congressional action.

The prohibition was implemented after a gunman in 2017 used an assault rifle equipped with a bump stock to kill 60 people and injure hundreds more at a Las Vegas music festival.

Other Republican senators, including some in or close to leadership, have also signaled an openness to considering legislation on the topic. Those include Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Democrats would need at least nine GOP senators to side with them in a recorded vote to pass legislation.

“I’ve been involved in some negotiations regarding firearms, and I’d be happy to listen to what people propose,” Cornyn, who is running to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as Senate GOP leader, told reporters.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), a lead author of the BUMP Act, said there’s “no legitimate use case” for bump stocks and that he’d be “happy to work with Republicans who have ideas.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declined to reveal his plans for the issue. He’s been focused on an election-year agenda derided by Republicans as the “summer of show votes.”

“Many [Republicans] were extremely supportive of this when President Trump did it as a regulation, and I’m just shocked that the Supreme Court — Donald Trump is hardly a friend of gun safety — but I’m just shocked that the Supreme Court would be even to the right of him,” Schumer said.

Cornyn, who was majority whip at the time, was among nine Republican senators in 2017 who requested that the ATF review bump stocks following the Las Vegas massacre. The accessory was first allowed by an ATF decision under the Obama administration.

But other GOP senators who called for regulations at the time now agree with the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, which determined that bump stocks do not transform semi-automatic rifles into illegal machine guns.

“I think the Supreme Court ruling was the right ruling,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the fourth-ranking Republican. “It doesn’t make it a machine gun.”

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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), a leading contender to be Trump’s running mate, assailed bump stocks as one of several “fake problems” Senate Democrats have focused on.

“This is week three of Chuck Schumer focusing on fake problems instead of real problems,” Vance said. “Let’s do the things that actually have a chance of passing and actually make the country a better place.”