IN THE WEIGHT OF THE LAS VEGAS SHOULDN'T THERE MAY BE A CRACK IN THE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICAN WALL OPPOSING GUN REGULATION. ISSUE CONCERNS PUMP STOCKS AND ACCESSORY THAT CAN MAKE SEMI AUTOMATIC RIFLES ESSENTIALLY AUTOMATIC. THE DEVICE WAS FOUND IN THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTERS HOTEL ROOM. TELL WHEN YOU SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN A DIANE -- DEMOCRAT HAD INTRODUCED A BAND THAT WOULD BAN HIM STOCKS. ANOTHER DEMOCRAT COSPONSORED HOUSE VERSION OF THE BAND AND NOW SOME REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ARE SAYING THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO CONSIDER SUCH LEGISLATION. JOINING ME IS SARAH WIRE, LA TIMES CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION REPORTER WHO JOINS US FROM WASHINGTON DC. WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM.THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME.Reporter: GOP LAWMAKERS SENATOR BOB CORNYN AND HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN ARE SAYING THEY MAY BE OPEN TO A BUMP STOCK MAN. THAT WOULD BE GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION. IS AN UNUSUAL?YES . WE HAVE SEEN THIS REPEATEDLY WHERE THERE HAVE BEEN MASS SHOOTINGS AND CONGRESS REALLY HAS NOT BUDGED. SO TO SEE THEM EXPRESSED WILLINGNESS SO QUICKLY AND PUBLICLY IS REALLY INTERESTING.Reporter: IS THEIR WIDESPREAD GOP SUPPORT FOR ME FOR A BAN ON PUMP STOCKS? SUMAC I WOULD NOT GO THAT FAR JUST YET BUT LOOKING AT SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SAID THEY ARE INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT IT, THESE ARE ALL POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE AND SO IF THEY CAN GET BEHIND THEY CAN USUALLY BRING CONSTITUENTS ALONG.Reporter: IT IS MORE THAN CORNYN AND RYAN?YES IT IS ALSO MARK MEADOWS OF NORTH CAROLINA AND HE READS THE HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS WHICH IS USUALLY SOME OF THE HARDEST GUYS TO GET ON BOARD WITH ANY OF THE DEMOCRATS PROPOSALS.Reporter: I BELIEVE ALSO SENATOR FEINSTEIN ALL SAID THAT THE IDEA, THE EXISTENCE OF BUMPSTOCKS WAS A SURPRISE TO THEM . THESE LEGISLATORS HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THESE DEVICES BEFORE?SHE'S BEEN TRYING TO DO A LARGE SCALE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAND AND THIS WAS PART OF HER EFFORTS BUT THAT SHOULD SHE WAS NOT ONE OF THE KEY ISSUES. THIS IS NOT JUST SMALL MODIFICATION. NOT WIDELY USED. WHEN YOU'RE TRYING TO DO BROAD LEGISLATION IT WAS NOT THE KEY ISSUE.Reporter: IS RYAN AND CORNYN SAID THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY HAD EVER HEARD OF IT?LIKE I SAID, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT MAKES IT VERY EASY FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN'T FAMILIAR WITH GUNS TO QUICKLY MASTER SOMETHING THAT IS DIFFICULT TO DO WITHOUT THE MODIFICATION. SO IT IS NOT SOMETHING A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT BUT IT IS VERY SIMPLE. WE HAD A VIDEO. IT IS JUST A FEW BOLTS DIFFERENCE.Reporter: SENATOR FEINSTEIN IS ALSO PROPOSING CLOSING THE GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE ON BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR GUN BUYERS. WHAT IS THE GOP SAYING ABOUT THAT?THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT DEMOCRATS HAVE LONG PUSHED FOR AND THERE HAS BEEN NO MOVEMENT WHATSOEVER EVEN SINCE THE MOST RECENT SHOOTING.Reporter: CONGRESS HAS A LOT ON ITS PLATE RIGHT NOW. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES FOR QUICK LEGISLATION TO BAN BUMPSTOCKS? REALISTICALLY IT WILL COME DOWN TO HOW MUCH PRESSURE THEY ARE HEARING FROM BACK HOME. IF THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WILL LEAD THE NATIONAL PSYCHE QUICKLY, IT WILL PROBABLY GET A HEARING ARE TWO AND NOT THE LEGISLATION MOOD BUT IF THERE IS AN OUTCRY FROM THE PUBLIC THERE IS A CHANCE.Reporter: I HAVE BEEN SPEAKING WITH SARAH WIEDER CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER WITH THE LA TIMES. THANK YOU SO MUCH.THE SHOOTER IN LAS VEGAS OWNED GUNS. LOTS AND LOTS OF GUNS. BUT THERE ARE MANY AMERICANS WHO OWN LOTS AND LOTS OF GUNS WHO DO NOT COMMIT CRIMES. IN FACT THE STANDARD ARGUMENT IS THAT GOOD PEOPLE WHO OWN GUNS CAN STOP BAD PEOPLE FROM COMMITTING GUN VIOLENCE. AND CAN MAKE THE WORLD A SAFER PLACE. THE TROUBLE IS MOST STATISTICAL EVIDENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT THAT IDEA. IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN REPORTER MELINDA LAWYER EXAMINES WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE. THE NAME OF HER ARTICLE WILL GIVE YOU SOME IDEA OF WHAT SHE FOUND. IT IS CALLED MORE GUNS DO NOT STOP MORE CRIMES. JOINING ME IS REPORTER MELINDA MOYER. WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM.THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME.
Senior congressional Republicans say they are open to considering legislation banning "bump stocks" like the shooter in Las Vegas apparently used to make semi-automatic rifles perform more like fully automatic weapons.
The comments from lawmakers including the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, marked a surprising departure from GOP lawmakers' general antipathy to gun regulations of any kind. But they were far from a guarantee of a path forward for the new legislation by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., especially with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan making clear their priorities are elsewhere.
"If somebody can essentially convert a semi-automatic weapon by buying one of these and utilizing it and cause the kind of mayhem and mass casualties that we saw in Las Vegas, that's something of obvious concern that we ought to explore," Cornyn told reporters.
"I own a lot of guns and as a hunter and sportsman I think that's our right as Americans, but I don't understand the use of this bump stock and that's another reason to have a hearing."
Cornyn later said he'd spoken with Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, and that Grassley was interested in convening a hearing.
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The devices, known as "bump stocks" among other names, are legal and originally were intended to help people with limited hand mobility fire a semi-automatic without the individual trigger pulls required. They can fit over the rear shoulder-stock assembly on a semi-automatic rifle and with applied pressure cause the weapon to fire continuously, increasing the rate from between 45 and 60 rounds per minute to between 400 and 800 rounds per minute, according to Feinstein's office.
The government gave its seal of approval to selling the devices in 2010 after concluding that they did not violate federal law.
Feinstein has a career-long history on the issue of guns after becoming mayor in San Francisco after her predecessor was gunned down. She authored an assault weapons ban that was in place for a decade before expiring in 2004, and said she had been considering trying to reintroduce that more sweeping legislation, as she's done unsuccessfully after past mass shootings, including the one at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged her to go with a narrower bill that might be likelier to draw support.
Feinstein pleaded with the public to pressure Congress to consider her legislation after the horrific violence earlier this week when a gunman killed 58 people and injured hundreds at an outdoor concert that she said her own daughter had considered attending.
"Mr. and Mrs. America, you have to stand up, you have to say 'enough is enough,'" Feinstein said. "Why can't we keep a weapon from becoming a military-grade weapon?"
The National Rifle Association, which has played a major role in exerting political pressure against gun curbs, did not respond to inquiries about its stance on Feinstein's bill.
At least one Republican senator, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said outright he was prepared to vote to ban "bump stocks." ''I have no problem in banning those," he said.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Republican senator, said, "I'm interested in finding out more about bump stocks and I've got my staff looking into that and I know there are other members interested in finding out more about it as well."
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Even so, asked Tuesday about "bump stocks" and whether they should be legal, McConnell, R-Ky., said it was not an appropriate time to be discussing legislation.
Ryan, R-Wis., made similar comments Wednesday in a radio interview on WISN in Milwaukee.
"What I don't think you want your government to do is to lurch toward reactions before even having all the facts," Ryan said. "Bad people are going to do bad things."
In the House, meanwhile, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., introduced a bill to ban the manufacture, possession, transfer, sale or importation of bump stocks. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., whose district includes the site of Sunday night's rampage, said: "The victims and families in Las Vegas don't need an explanation about the difference between machine guns and firearms with bump stocks. They need action."
Congress' recent history gives little cause to think Republicans would take any action on guns. Even after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting where schoolchildren were slaughtered, Feinstein's reintroduced assault weapons ban went nowhere, and bipartisan background check legislation by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania fell short on the Senate floor.
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Last year, after the mass shooting at a dance club in Orlando, Florida, Democrats commandeered the House floor to protest GOP inaction on guns, but while garnering headlines the tactic did not yield results. Shooting incidents involving lawmakers themselves, like at a baseball practice earlier this year where Majority Whip Steve Scalise was critically injured, have not changed the calculus.
Feinstein held out hope that this time would be different because of the scale of casualties and the weaponry "taking it into war." And Manchin said that he planned to meet with Toomey on the background checks bill, but would not reintroduce it without significant GOP support, which he said "ain't going to happen unless the president gives his stamp of approval."
President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas on Wednesday but said "We're not going to talk about that today" when asked about gun issues.
