Trump Orders Justice Department to Ban Bump Stocks

President Donald Trump has ordered the Justice Department to draw up regulations on banning bump stocks — the accessory that allowed the Las Vegas gunman to massacre more than 50 people in October.

Trump said during a White House event Tuesday he wants the attorney general to "ban all devices to turn legal weapons into machine guns."

These are the first signs coming from the White House on regulating weapons since 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz allegedly killed 17 people last week at a Parkland, Florida high school.

Until Tuesday, all previous comments from the president centered on combating mental illness and increasing school security.

The Las Vegas shooter used bump stocks — a device attached to a semi-automatic rifle so it can fire more bullets in a shorter time.

Moments before Trump announced his bump stocks memorandum, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "we haven't closed the door on any front." She was responding to reporters who want to know what the president planned to do about gun violence.

Along with being "very focused" on mental illness, Sanders said Trump is also considering age limits on sales of the type of weapon the teenage gunman used in the high school attack.

Sanders says the president is hosting parents, teachers, and students Wednesday for what she called a "listening session" on school safety. Survivors from the Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Columbine school massacres have been invited.

Sanders also tried to smooth over the fallout from Trump's controversial tweet about the FBI in which he said agents missed signs about Parkland shooter because it was busy trying to look for election interference collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Sanders said a "deranged individual" was the cause of the killings.

The FBI admitted it did not act on a tip on January 5 about Cruz when someone with a close relationship to him called with information about his "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting."

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