WASHINGTON, D.C.—In response to a new Trump administration regulation that officially bans the manufacture, possession, and sale of bump stocks, Vidor Friedman, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians released the following statement:

“On behalf of the nation’s emergency physicians, I applaud the Trump Administration for taking this decisive action to outlaw bump stocks, a type of firearm modification that was used in the deadliest mass shooting to date in the United States, where 58 people were murdered, and more than 400 individuals were injured by gunfire at a musical festival in Las Vegas, NV. While that shooter’s motivations and personal responsibility for the attack cannot be ignored, the scope and severity of that shooting was facilitated using firearms fitted with bump stocks to increase the rate of fire. The availability of these devices poses a very real and serious threat to public safety.   

“While recognizing the right of individuals to own firearms, ACEP policy supports efforts that restrict the sale and ownership of weapons and munitions designed for military or law enforcement use.  The sole function of bump stocks and other such devices is to enable semiautomatic firearms to closely emulate the performance of fully automatic firearms that are limited to the military or law enforcement or are otherwise highly regulated for civilian use.

“We acknowledge that banning these devices will not solve all of our nation’s challenges in reducing firearms violence.  However, this action can help reduce access to these devices that are mass-produced in clear exploitation of a legal loophole.  ACEP firmly believes that reasonable steps, such as this one, can be taken to improve public health and safety by appropriately regulating bump stocks without infringing upon the rights of law-abiding Americans.”