Bump stocks are turned in or destroyed as ban takes effect
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The nation's ban on bump stocks took effect this week, and there are signs that owners destroyed tens of thousands of them or handed them over to authorities as required.
Bump stocks are attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire rapidly like machine guns. They were outlawed after they were used by the gunman who killed 58 people in Las Vegas in 2017.
The largest supplier of bump stocks turned in its entire remaining inventory to be destroyed. That was some 60,000 devices, worth millions of dollars.
How many of the estimated half-million devices believed to be in circulation in the U.S. are still around is anyone's guess. Anyone in possession of a bump stock from now on can be charged with a federal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.