Rep. Dina Titus moves to force House vote on bump stock ban

Titus is using a special maneuver to bring her Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act, which has sat in committee since 2023, to a floor vote.

Nevada Democratic US Rep. Dina Titus on Wednesday moved to force a floor vote on a bill she introduced last January that would reimpose a nationwide ban on firearms accessories known as bump stocks. 

Titus announced she has filed a discharge petition — a parliamentary maneuver used by House lawmakers to bypass committee approval for a bill — for legislation she introduced in 2023 called the Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act,which would subject the component under the National Firearms Act. Bump stocks are components that attach to the end of a firearm and are able to harness a semi-automatic weapon’s recoil to fire at a rate comparable to machine guns.

Titus has urged colleagues to pass her bill after the Supreme Court last month struck down a Trump administration era-ban on bump stocks. The court found that Trump’s Department of Justice overreached its authority when it issued the ban following a 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival that was carried out using bump stocks on assault-style weapons. 

The Oct. 1, 2017, shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival ultimately killed 60 people and injured hundreds more, and remains the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. 

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a rifle fitted with a rapid-fire accessory known as a bump stock is not an illegal machine gun. (AP Graphic)

“After my futile attempts urging Republican leadership to bring this legislation for a vote, this petition is the necessary next step to enacting a permanent, federal ban on bump stocks,” Rep. Titus said. “The act of gun violence in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017, became a renewed reality when the Supreme Court wrongfully gutted the federal bump stock ban that had been in place since 2019. I won’t stop fighting until we see these devices banned once and for all. These weapons do not belong on our streets.” 

MORE: Nevadans criticize SCOTUS ruling overturning ban on bump stocks

Since being introduced in January 2023, the bill has sat in the House Ways and Means and Judiciary committees without consideration. In order for Titus’ bill to reach the floor for a vote, her discharge petition must be approved by a simple majority in the House.

That means it would need 218 votes before the chamber considers it for passage to the Senate. Approximately 180 House Democrats — including Nevada Reps. Susie Lee and Steven Horsford — have signed on as co-sponsors to the bill, while Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick remains the only Republican to issue public support. 

Though it’s unclear whether the measure can pass the Republican-controlled House, Nevada officials and advocates applauded Titus’ move. 

“Guns outfitted with bump stocks fire like machineguns and they kill like machineguns — and now that the Supreme Court has decided to put these deadly devices back on the market, Congress needs to take action,” John Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in Titus’ release. “We applaud Congresswoman Titus and the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force for championing this lifesaving legislation, which would prevent potential mass shooters from being able to wreak havoc with a single pull of the trigger.”

Nevada Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), who was present at the festival when the shooting took place, praised Titus for “standing up for Nevada families and gun violence survivors across the country.” 

“The American people are demanding that our elected officials do everything they can to make our country safer and I’m glad to see Rep. Titus heed this call and act,” Jauregui said in a statement. 

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