NY-22 Minute: Tenney Claims Guns in Vegas Shooting Bought Illegally, Contradicts Fox News By Luke Perry
Claudia Tenney “is among 161 GOP co-sponsors of legislation folded into the SHARE Act that would make it easier to buy gun suppressors.” The SHARE Act (Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act) was expected to pass, possibly this week, prior to the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Speaker Paul Ryan, who is responsible for scheduling votes on House bills, recently stated that Republicans now have no plans to vote on the bill and doesn’t know when it will be scheduled.
Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images
Yesterday Claudia Tenney discussed gun policy and the recent mass shooting on Talk of the Town WUTQ in Utica. Tenney said of the alleged shooter: “he got the guns illegally. He later on illegally (emphasis original) altered them from what we’re learning.” (9:58 mark)
The day before Fox News reported “Las Vegas Gunman Stephen Paddock Bought His Guns Legally.” Police found 23 guns in his hotel room and 19 more at his home. Paddock filled out forms required by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "for all of his weapons purchases.” Fox also identified and interviewed stores and individuals who sold weapons to Paddock.
Photo by Allen Breed/AP
On Wednesday The Wall Street Journal, and several other news organizations, explained how the alleged shooter likely used a “cheap and legal device to make a semiautomatic gun simulate an automatic gun.” Twelve “bump fire stocks” were found in the hotel room of the alleged shooter. The devices enable guns to fire eight times more bullets than a semi-automatic weapon and “are legal under current federal law.”
Several Congressional Republicans, including John Cornyn (TX), Lindsey Graham (SC), Orrin Hatch (UT), and Marco Rubio (FL), recently expressed openness to banning these devices. The National Rifle Association stated this afternoon that “devices designed to allow semiautomatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations.”
This story was updated at 3:51pm, October 5, 2017.
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Chair and Professor of Government at Utica College.
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