April 4, 2018 at 12:44 p.m.
| Updated April 4, 2018 at 12:44 p.m.
by
Associated Press
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2017 file photo, a little-known device called a "bump stock" is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault store and shooting range in South Jordan, Utah. New federal rules would be the "the smartest, quickest" way to regulate the device the gunman in the Las Vegas massacre used to heighten his firepower, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday, Oct. 11 in remarks that suggested Congress was unlikely to act first. It remains unclear, however, what if any action the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will take on so-called bump stocks. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An effort by Democratic lawmakers to ban bump stocks in Tennessee has failed.
Bump stocks are devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rapid fire of machine guns. Some Tennessee Senate leaders had come out in support of President Donald Trump's push to ban bump stocks after a gunman used the devices to kill 58 people and injure more than 500 others in Las Vegas in October.
The proposal didn't generate enough Republican backers to pass. Two companion bills failed to make it out of committees this week.
The main sponsors of the legislation in Tennessee were Sen. Lee Harris of Memphis and Rep. Dwayne Thompson of Cordova.
