The amendment approved by the House does not specifically refer to bump stocks but would allow for a prison sentence of between three and 20 years for anyone who “possesses, owns or offers for sale any device which attaches to a rifle, shotgun or firearm, except a magazine, that is designed to increase the rate of discharge … or whoever modifies any rifle, shotgun or firearm with the intent to increase its rate of discharge.”
The Senate language, by contrast, would limit the ban to bump stocks and “trigger cranks,” with specific definitions provided for both.
Wallace contends the House language, if applied literally, could make a felon out of a gun owner who by cleaning a hunting rifle makes its bolt action faster or smoother.
“I think we should be careful to use language that is very specific as we did on the Senate side,” said Sen. William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Brownsberger agreed the broader House language could carry “unintended consequences,” though he also acknowledged that limiting the ban specifically to bump stocks and trigger cranks could fail to account for any similar mechanisms developed in the future.
