The Las Vegas shooter used bump stocks to shoot 500 people in 10 minutes. Now Americans can't buy them fast enough.

Bump stock
(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/LATimes)

After Stephen Paddock used semiautomatic rifles with bump-stock modifications to shoot 489 people in 10 minutes in Las Vegas on Sunday night, killing at least 58 of them, several congressional Republicans said they are open to dropping their longstanding opposition to regulating firearms and considering a ban on bump stocks. Even Sen. John Cornyn (R) and other members of the Texas GOP delegation said they would consider or back regulating the once-obscure accessory, which replaces a rifle's stock with a device that allows a semiautomatic to fire like an automatic rifle. Two of the main bump-stock manufacturers are in Moran, Texas, near Abilene.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.