Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that the U.S. Senate will vote as soon as Tuesday on a bill aimed at banning bump stocks — gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns — just days after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on them.
The ban on bump stocks was put into place in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump's administration in the aftermath of the 2017 massacre in Las Vegas, when a gunman used firearms equipped with bump stocks to open fire at a country music festival, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds more.
But the Supreme Court on Friday — in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines — ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives overstepped its authority when it put the rule into place.
During arguments earlier this year, the high court’s justices indicated that it should have been up to Congress to ban bump stocks.
In a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, Schumer vowed that his chamber will “step in to try and fix the chaos the MAGA court just unleashed.”
"As soon as tomorrow, Democrats will seek passage of a federal ban on bump stocks,” the New York Democrat said, urging Republicans “not to block” New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is leading the legislative charge to ban bump stocks, when he puts the ban on the floor for a quick vote.
“Passing a bill banning bump stocks should be the work of five minutes,” Schumer said. “Most Americans support this step. Poll after poll show that a majority of people, including independents, support restrictions on AR-15-style rifles, which is what bump stocks are designed to emulate.”
“I understand that the issue of gun safety provokes intense disagreement in Congress, but shouldn’t we all agree that preventing another tragedy like Las Vegas is just plain common sense and a good thing?” Schumer asked, adding: “I hope our Republican colleagues join us.”
While the issue of banning bump stocks has been somewhat of a bipartisan one — Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, was part of a bipartisan group that introduced such a restriction last year, and both Democrats and Republicans have condemned the high court’s ruling — it’s not clear if both parties will come together to support this legislation.
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton suggested that a ban on bump stocks “treads close to the line” of infringing on the Second Amendment — even though the Supreme Court’s ruling did not reference the Second Amendment, but rather was centered around the ATF's authority to enact the restriction.
It’s the latest in a series of tough votes that Schumer has put on the floor ahead of November’s election, which will not only determine which party controls the White House, but the narrowly divided Senate.
Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a bill to codify protections for in vitro fertilization, and earlier this month opposed legislation aimed at protecting access to contraceptives — two key reproductive rights issues that Democrats are hoping will translate to wins at the ballot box this fall.
After hailing the bipartisan coalition that came together to pass the first major gun safety legislation in decades — the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was enacted after mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas — Schumer said that "Democrats are ready to pass gun safety once again as soon as tomorrow."
"The question is will Republicans join us?" he continued. "Will Republicans join us to prevent another tragedy like Las Vegas and vote to ban deadly bumps tocks? Republicans were supportive of banning bump stocks when the Trump administration took this step, so they should support it tomorrow."
President Joe Biden has said that he will sign a bump stock ban into law "immediately" if it's sent to his desk by Congress.