The Justice Department has taken the first step in banning the sale, manufacture or possession of bump stocks through new regulation, as Congress stalls in drafting a legislative prohibition.
"The Department of Justice has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a notice of a proposed regulation to clarify that the National Firearms and Gun Control Act defines 'machinegun' to include bump stock type devices," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement issued Saturday.
Bump stocks are devices used to accelerate a gun's shooting rate so it fires like an automatic weapon.
As NPR's Jessica Taylor reported, President Trump called on the Justice Department to change its regulations and formally ban the devices in February, following the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
The alleged shooter in the school massacre that killed 17 people did not use bump stocks, but the gunman who killed 58 concertgoers and injured more than 500 others in October in Las Vegas did.