POLAND SPRINGS (NEWS CENTER Maine)-- The Florida school shooting has ignited a national conversation about gun control, background screenings and the regulation of bump stocks.
These are parts made to fit onto an automatic rifle---they increase the speed and rounds of gunfire that can be shot. On Tuesday, President Trump directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to propose regulations that would ban bump stocks and other similar devices. That possible ban is the talk of local gun sellers.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the ATF, approved bump stocks, also known as bump fire, and slide fire back in 2012. And the U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to every American gun shop owner letting them know.
At the Top Gun store in Poland Springs, the rules are stringent at the firing range. “I need to know you, I need to know your background, I’m not interested in thrill seekers.” Joe Cimino owns Top Gun. He has a decade of military experience and is regimented about what happens inside his firing range.
“Can you go in there by yourself? No, there’s only one instructor, we have a half dozen instructors, I’m the only one who will take you in.”
In the Army, Cimino used an AR-15. Inside his store, he proudly shows off his vintage 1965 AR-15, the year it was introduced. “So, this is a civilian version, it’s an AR-15.”
Although it was used throughout the Vietnam War, Cimino says it serves multiple purposes. “The AR 15 doesn’t work any different than any other semi-automatic rifle that you could use for anything, whether it be duck hunting, or whether it be for deer hunting.”
While Hundreds of guns line the walls of Top Gun, there is one item Cimino says never will. Bump stocks.
“We allowed them when they first came into being, but after exposure with them, I realized that there’s no way we’re going to be able to control a device like that. So we banned them right away after we had a couple of people using them in the range.”
The bump-stock is a unit that can be attached to a semi-automatic gun; it allows the recoil of the firearm to fire shots in rapid succession, simulating the ability of a fully automatic firearm.
While no bump stock was used in last week’s massacre in Florida, a reported dozen was found in the room of the Vegas shooter---who killed 58 from his high rise hotel.
And shortly after that bloodbath, Maine U.S. Senator Angus King www.king.senate.gov was the first member of Congress to publicly call for the ban or regulation of bump stocks. “Bump stocks, this thing that converts a semi-automatic into, essentially an automatic, ought to be banned,” he told Willie Geist on NBC News. “I think we need to talk about magazine sizes. So I think there are things we can do.”
Back at Top Gun, www.topgunofmaine.com Joe Cimino underscored the need for a better understanding of guns and better training, too. “We have a women’s only gun class tonight. It’s good to see people who want to become better educated.”