Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he is planning to hold a vote on legislation to bar gun bump stocks after the Supreme Court invalidated a ban on them.
"The Senate can help restore this public safety rule, and next week, it will try. As majority leader, I have the ability to allow a unanimous consent vote, and we'll see just what Republican MAGAs do: Will they allow it to go forward, or will they cower to MAGA and hurt the American people?" Schumer said Sunday.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that sided with Michael Cargill, a gun shop owner from Austin, Texas, who challenged the ban on bump stocks. The devices enable semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly like machine guns.
The court's liberal minority dissented from the decision.
"The only way to permanently close this loophole is through legislation," Schumer said after the ruling. "Bump stocks have played a devastating role in many of the horrific mass shootings in our country, but, sadly, it's no surprise to see the Supreme Court roll back this necessary public safety rule as they push their out-of-touch, extreme agenda. They're even further to the right of Donald Trump."
Schumer has planned a series of votes in the Senate to help boost embattled incumbents and divide Republicans on key issues.
President Joe Biden, who blasted the Supreme Court ruling Friday, said he will sign a bill banning bump stocks immediately if it reached his desk.
"Americans should not have to live in fear of this mass devastation," Biden said.
The bump stock ban was enacted by the Trump administration in 2017 after a Las Vegas concert shooting in which 60 people were killed.
Sam Barron ✉
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