Utah, via its congressional delegation, can earn respect and prestige for our state by leading the way to mitigating the lethal versatility of firearms. The universal revulsion for the horrendous assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump will enhance the prospects for the action I’m suggesting.
The Supreme Court recently voted to overturn a ban on bump stocks. Bump stocks can effectively turn a semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun. The court said the exact wording of the law outlawing machine guns did not include the bump stock. Justice Samuel Alito indicated that the law banning machine guns would have included bump stocks if they had existed at the time the original law was passed. All that’s needed is a new law that explicitly describes and includes a gun with a bump stock as a prohibited machine gun.
What’s needed is for all six members of Utah’s congressional delegation to appear publicly together and unequivocally state they will support legislation that corrects the ambiguity that Alito referred to.
The noble gesture of Utah’s unity and high-minded purpose would likely be the catalyst to jumpstart passage of the law through an evenly divided Congress, ridding Utah and our country of the bump stock forever.
Eric Rumple
Sandy