Las Vegas Concert Goers File Lawsuit Against Bump Stock Manufacturer

Three Las Vegas concert goers filed a lawsuit against a bump stock manufacturing company over legally made but criminally used bump stocks.

There are three plaintiffs in the suit.

Fox 59 points to police reports that the Vegas attacker had bump stock devices in his hotel room. The devices are legal, ATF-approved accessories that allow an AR-15 owner to mimic auto fire for a short time.

Bump stocks were approved by Barack Obama’s ATF in 2010, and were described as an accessory rather than a conversion device; a critical distinction. The Washington Post reports that Rick Vasquez, the ATF official who signed off on non-regulation for bump stocks, described them as “a goofy, little doodad.”

In short, the devices “are for novelty, not accuracy.” In fact, the devices are so novelty-based that U.S. Army Sergeant First Class special forces soldier Tony Cowden suggests the attacker was not as deadly as he could have been, had he attacked without a bump stock.

The Daily Beast’s Justin Miller quoted Cowden:

Bump stocks may have made Paddock less deadly https://t.co/90ddK51Y8w pic.twitter.com/eC42rf8k11

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) October 4, 2017

Because bump stocks are legal, the suit against manufacturers will face an uphill climb because of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (2005). The ACT “[prohibits] causes of action against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.”