Sen. Victor Ramirez: It's on us to pass common-sense reform
On October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on concert goers in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 people, and injuring 546. Like many of you, I watched in horror as the injury count of victims in Las Vegas continued to rise. People from all over went to a concert in Las Vegas to have a fun evening of music that turned into a nightmare of bullets raining from above. All of this destruction was caused by one man. How could one man fire off so many rounds of ammunition and kill and injure so many?
This man was using a bump stock in his firearm. When attached to the firearm the bump stock allows a shooter to engage the firearm’s trigger and fire off continuous rounds at a very high rate of speed. Bump stocks are currently not legislated under the assault rifle ban in Maryland. The ATF has stated it does not have the legal capacity to regulate them, and Congress has been reluctant at best to confront the NRA. Any individual can walk into a gun store and purchase this device which serves no purpose in our society other than mass murder and unimaginable pain.
I am proud to be sponsoring a piece of legislation that would ban bump stocks. It is on us, the Maryland Legislature, to pass a very common sense safety measure to protect Marylanders. No person should be able to use this loophole in the law to create carnage in our communities.