By james art Alabama Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, has pre-filed her bill to ban devices in Birmingham that increase the rate of fire of a gun.
The bill, HB62, would ban boom shares in Class 1 municipalities, or municipalities with more than 300,000 people. According to the Alabama League of Municipalities, Birmingham is the only Class 1 in the state.
The text of the bill defines a stock as any part, device or accessory attached to a firearm that uses the energy of the weapon’s recoil to increase the rate of fire.
If Givan’s bill is signed into law, owning large stocks in Birmingham would become a Class C felony in Alabama, which carries a sentence of between 366 days and 10 years.
Jeevan previously told AL.com that she introduced the bill in response to Birmingham officials’ call for lawmakers to take action.
Police say a Glock switchblade weapon was used in the September shooting outside Hush, a hookah and cigar joint in Birmingham’s popular Five Points South neighborhood. Four people were killed and another 17 were injured.
“At least 100 shots were fired in Five Points,” Givan said in a news release. “This is not a crime scene, this is a war zone. Boom stock has one purpose and one purpose only; to kill or injure as many people as possible.
In 2017, a gunman used rifles equipped with bump stocks when he killed 58 people and injured 850 at an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas, Cason reported. That led to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives banning bump stocks under the Trump administration. But the US Supreme Court struck down the ban in June, ruling that the agency had overstepped its authority.
Givan earlier filed a bill to ban boom stocks nationwide. Her new bill is local and will only apply to Birmingham.
The bill is scheduled for first reading in the House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security on February 4.