Heinrich, Collins, Cortez Masto Announce Growing Support for BUMP Act
20 senators sign onto legislation to outlaw deadly bump stocks following Supreme Court decision to invalidate Trump-era ban
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), are announcing 20 additional senators have cosponsored their Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts (BUMP) Act since Friday’s ruling by the Supreme Court to overturn a Trump-era rule banning bump stocks—devices designed to inflict the highest number of casualties in the shortest amount of time.
The BUMP Act would statutorily ban the sale of deadly bump stock devices that allow semiautomatic weapons to rapidly fire multiple rounds like machine guns.
“We can’t wait for another tragedy to act— Americans are counting on Congress to ban bump stocks now,” said Heinrich. “There’s no good reason any person should possess a device that turns a firearm into a machine gun. I’m grateful to my colleagues for recognizing that truth and for joining us in the fight to pass this commonsense legislation to make our communities safer.”
“Bump stocks are designed to turn semi-automatic firearms into what are essentially machine guns,” said Collins. “This bipartisan legislation will prohibit the use of these dangerous devices while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.”
“My hometown still bears the scars from the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival massacre, and I know the damage that bump stocks can do. Now that the Supreme Court has struck down President Trump’s 2019 regulation prohibiting these dangerous devices, it’s more important than ever to act on my bill to permanently ban bump stocks. I’m urging my colleagues to pass this commonsense legislation that will save lives and protect other communities from the devastation Las Vegas experienced on October 1, 2017,” said Cortez Masto.
The new cosponsors of the BUMP Act are U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai'i), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Joe Manchin (I-W.Va), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) cosponsored the bill in October 2023.
The Senate is slated to vote on Heinrich’s BUMP Act tomorrow through a unanimous consent request.
U.S. Representative Dina Titus (D-Nev.) has introduced companion legislation in the House. There are 145 total cosponsors of the BUMP Act in the House.
On Friday, directly following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal ban on bump stocks, President Biden called on Congress to pass legislation banning bump stocks, stating that he would immediately sign it into law.
Heinrich, Cortez Masto, and former Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) initially introduced the BUMP Act in the 115th Congress, prior to the Trump administration’s enactment of the rule banning bump stocks in 2018. Collins also cosponsored that legislation.
The BUMP Act has been endorsed by numerous gun safety organizations, including Everytown for Gun Safety, GIFFORDS, Brady, March for Our Lives, Newtown Action Alliance, March Fourth, Violence Policy Center, and New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence.
The full text of the BUMP Act is available here.
A fact sheet is available here.
Heinrich has introduced legislation to ban bump stocks and keep Americans safe from gun violence, while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes.
Last November, Heinrich introduced the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act, legislation to protect communities from gun violence, while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes. In addition to regulating the sale, transfer, and manufacture of gas-operated semi-automatic weapons, the GOSAFE Act would prevent unlawful modifications of permissible firearms, including bump stocks.
Heinrich introduced the GOSAFE Act in the Senate, alongside U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). The GOSAFE Act is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Earlier this month, Heinrich announced that his GOSAFE Act has been introduced in the House by U.S. Representative Lucy McBath (D-Ga.).
Additional background on Heinrich's leadership to tackle gun violence:
Last month, Heinrich announced over $1 million he secured in the FY24 Appropriations Bills to purchase new National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) ballistics testing machines for law enforcement agencies in Las Cruces, Farmington, Gallup, and Roswell. The intelligence gathered by these machines will go to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center where dedicated and trained analysts will use the information to trace and network firearms used in crimes across the state. The Center will then be able to feed that information back to law enforcement agencies to improve identification of suspects and support successful prosecutions.
In March, in the FY24 Appropriations Bills, Heinrich also secured language directing the expanded use of NIBIN for state and local agencies in the Southwest Border region.
In July 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the bicameral Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act, legislation, led by Blumenthal, to require online and other sellers of gun-making kits to comply with federal firearm safety regulations.
Heinrich was also a member of the core bipartisan group that negotiated the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act— the first significant federal gun safety legislation to become law in 30 years—specifically working with Collins to lead the successful effort to increase criminal penalties for straw purchases and stop illegal gun trafficking out of our country.
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