Following the Las Vegas shooting in October 2017 and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018 , President Donald Trump and the DoJ sought ways to ban bump stocks , devices that can be used to make semi-automatic weapons fire as fully automatic ones as used in both shootings . Initially , the DoJ believed it had to wait for Congress to pass the appropriate legislation to ban the sale and possession of bump stocks . However , by March 2018 , the DoJ introduced proposed revised regulations on gun control that incorporated bump stocks under the definition of machine guns , which would make them banned devices , as Congress yet not taken any action . After a period of public review , the DoJ implemented the proposed ban starting on December 18 , 2018 , giving owners of bump stocks to destroy them or turn them into authorities before within 90 days after which the ban would be in full effect ( on March 26 , 2019 ) . Pro-gun groups immediately sought to challenge the order , but could not get the Supreme Court to put the ban on hold while the litigation was ongoing . In the following week , the Supreme Court refused to exempt the litigants in the legal challenge from the DoJ 's order after this was raised as a separate challenge
Las Vegas shooting
2017 Las Vegas shooting
Gun politics in the United States