Following a mass shooting in Las Vegas that claimed the lives of more than 50 people, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds is willing to consider legislation relating to firearm attachments or add-ons.
During a call with reporters on Thursday, the South Dakota Republican said he's interested to read a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, that would bar bump stocks, which are believed to have been used in the Las Vegas shooting to modify semi-automatic firearms.
"What I want to do is see the fine print, I want to find out whether that's actually what happens or if it's broader than that to where it would be used to also give a bureaucrat or a regulator the ability to further restrict other things as well," Rounds said.
He said the "emphasis" of the firearm discussion in Congress is on bump stocks at the moment, but he's also interested to learn additional facts about the shooting to better determine ways to make it more difficult for people who are "mentally ill" to acquire firearms.
"I mean, nobody in their right mind does this kind of stuff, so how do we further make it more difficult for individuals who are mentally ill or have, you know, a psychosis of some point, how do we do a better job of identifying them?" Rounds asked. "How do we get a legal firearm out of the hands of someone who clearly is mentally unstable?"
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Rounds said it's "awfully early" and all of the facts have not been answered, but he said the bump stocks discussion is "a fair one to have."
