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Local lawmaker proposing ban on bump stocks in wake of Las Vegas massacre

BOSTON — The horrific events that unfolded in Las Vegas Sunday night is putting bump stock devices in the spotlight.

Investigators said that’s what the gunman used to make his weapons fire like fully automatic weapons, and now there are calls for bans on the devices.

MORE: Boston 25 News obtains exclusive photos of Las Vegas shooter’s guns

Boston 25 News reporter Jacqui Heinrich obtained exclusive photos from inside the Las Vegas shooter’s hotel room at Mandalay Bay. The first showed bump stocks in use on at least one of his weapons used to kill nearly 60 people and injure more than 500.

WATCH: What is a bump stock and how does it work?

A bump stock and similar technology increases the rate of fire from a semi-automatic weapon that requires one trigger pull to fire each round into a weapon that can fire 90 rounds in nine seconds.

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In Massachusetts, Rep. David Linsky, of Natick, filed a bill Wednesday to make the legal after-market accessory illegal in the Commonwealth.

"I challenge anyone in the gun community to say what this type of device that turns a semi-automatic into a virtual automatic weapon should be in private hands," he told Boston 25 News.

His bill would also ban older model high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds that are currently grandfathered into the law.

Linsky wrote in an op-ed, “We cannot afford to simple label this a tragedy, pray for the victims and move on. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”

He was also talking about Congress in that op-ed, and at the federal level, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, of New Hampshire, took part in introducing the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act, which she described as closing the loophole that allows bump stocks and similar accessories to modify semi-automatic weapons to act like automatic weapons.

The federal bill doesn't include language about high-capacity magazines.

Linksy is reportedly optimistic about state action.

"Ideally gun laws would be handled on the federal level, but Congress has been totally absent and inept in their handling of the terrible problem of gun violence in the United States," Linsky said.

Federally, the New York Times reports several Republicans are signaling a new-found willingness to have the conversation, specifically about bump stocks.

ONLY ON BOSTON 25 NEWS: Exclusive photos of Las Vegas shooter's guns
Slideshow | What is a bump stock?

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