Ministry’s wise move

The Department of International Trade has banned the importation and distribution of bump stocks (pictured). Bump stocks? These are devices which, when fitted or added to a self-loading firearm, utilises the recoil forces to automate repeated pressure on the trigger, increasing the rate of fire of the firearm. The decision was taken on the grounds of public safety as there is a risk that such items might be used on, in the case of the UK, legally-held .22 rifles. Stephen Paddock, the perpetrator of the September shootings in Las Vegas in which 58 people died, had fitted bump stocks to a number of the weapons he employed. The ministry’s move is more than justified; there is no good reason why anyone in the UK would need to own one.