are they laughing at n00bs buying bump stocks now? I'm not.

Simple solution: once they're banned anyone caught using one, regardless of the circumstances, gets a hefty fine, the possibility of jail time, confiscation of all their weapons and ammo, and the indignity of being frog-marched through the streets with a sign around their neck stating: "I might have killed you - because I thought being able to fire 100 rounds a minute was more important than your life".

Bump stocks were not the problem. The shooter could have physically modified a number of those weapons for full-auto with tools commonly available at any Ace hardware.

I'm pro strict/severe gun control, but even that won't stop mass-murderers like this - they'll find ways. But thankfully shootings like this - where the goal is simply to kill whomever - are a small slice of the gun death/injury pie, and we can save a lot of lives with strict control.

@3: that's not the method paddock used, though. he used bump stocks. because they're easy and cheap. it's why firearms are the method of preference for rampage killings - they're easy and cheap.

to whit: allen ivanov.

I'm what you might call a "gun nut" and am generally extremely conservative when it comes to gun laws. But I'm not at all worried about a ban on bump stocks. They serve no purpose to real shooters. A bump stock is to the shooting world what selfie-sticks are to photography. Hokey to say the very least. I can't imagine one having any use except for indiscriminately firing into a crowd. I imagine a bump-stock ban will pass relatively unchallenged.

@3 The shooter could've done a lot of things. He could've made bomb. Crashed a plane. Made weaponized toxin of some sort. Maybe made an atomic bomb.

But he didn't. He got out a credit card and purchased a bump stock.

Because it was easiest. it was efficient. It was legal.

One of the most ignored news items of the last two decades was the earliest leaked How-To manual by Al Qaeda (and borrowed now by ISIS) where one of their top directives for attacking the "underbelly" of the US was to us the the lax American gun laws to their advantage. And to use legal purchases. Because it was so easy. And cheap. Almost as cheap as buying a few coach class airline tickets and utility knives.

Just like any predator, criminals and terrorists go for easy prey in the simples way possible first.

So you make it harder for them. This is basic strategy known from The Art of War to every modern strategic planner in the world. You make it harder for your foe.

Once bump stocks are outlawed, only outlaws will have bump stocks. That will make them easier to identify and prosecute.

Charles wrote:

Of course, the shooter in Las Vegas didn’t need any great accuracy to gun down people at the concert.

Earlier in the piece, he quoted an article whose author wrote that one can achieve the same effect as that which a bump stock provides using one's hip, so long as accuracy is not required:

The thrill of what’s called “bump firing” can be had without any special attachment if the shooter simply doesn’t hold the weapon’s pistol grip, allowing the gun to rattle back and forth after each shot. But this method only works when firing from the hip, so it’s difficult to control. The Bump Fire stock, thanks to its guiding tube, can be shot from the shoulder, making it far more accurate and reliable.