Stores Selling Out Of Bump Stocks After Shooter Used Them In Las Vegas Massacre

“I want to get one before there is a push to make them illegal,” one Facebook user commented.



Gun stores nationwide are selling out of bump stocks, a device used by the Las Vegas shooter that allows a semiautomatic gun to fire as quickly as a machine gun. 

Police said Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old gunman, had outfitted 12 of his firearms with bump stocks, which he used to fire hundreds of rounds into a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers Sunday from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Hundreds were injured and at least 59 people were killed, including Paddock, who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

While some retailers, such as Walmart and Cabela’s, discontinued the sale of bump stocks following the shooting, others couldn’t keep up with the demand. At least six online gun retailers examined by Newsweek had sold out of the device this week. 

Slide Fire, a Texas-based manufacturer of bump stocks, sold out of the devices within days of the mass shooting. The company posted a note to customers on its website:

“We have decided to temporarily suspend taking new orders in order to provide the best service with those already placed.”

Another Texas-based bump stock manufacturer, Bump Fire Systems, noted on its Facebook page on Tuesday that its website couldn’t handle the amount of interest it had received this week.

“Currently our servers are down due to high traffic volume,” read a post on Bump Fire Systems’ Facebook page. “Please be patient, our IT Dept is currently working on the issue as fast as possible.”