Let’s get something out of the way. The murderer in Las Vegas would not have been stopped from his evil deeds. Hell bent on causing destruction, he meticulously planned his attack. He fit no profile. There is one element of his crime, however, which caused more carnage, i.e. the purchase of a $99 item called a bump stock. This device is used to turn a semi-automatic weapon into one with the speed and ease of an automatic, spewing out 700 rounds per minute. Bump stocks should be banned and rifle manufacturers must be subject to restrictions on gun design manufacturing to prevent homemade “bump stocks” from attaching to their rifles.

Gun enthusiasts often argue about how the federal government already restricts automatic guns. This mechanism, however, flouts the law. It allows a person to trans-mutate a legal semiautomatic into one that spews more shots more quickly. For indiscriminate murderers like Stephen Paddock, he was able to mow down more people and harm them to a point of criticality because of multiple wounds.

U.S. Representative David Cicilline said he will offer a bill to stop the sale and production of these devices. Needless to say, many congressional republicans will hem and haw. Meanwhile, yahoos, no doubt, are rushing to buy bump stocks lest they be banned.

No true hunter would be found dead with a bump stock. He or she would ruin the deer meat, so it is a fig leaf to say that a ban would begin the “slippery slope” leading to the ban on weapons. Hogwash!

Only those who have been relieved of their senses cling to their bump stocks. The Associated Press quoted one fellow who wanted it to spray 58 bullets to celebrate his 58th birthday. One woman was on a video gushing about how easy it is to lean into it and just fire. Please give these people an I.Q. test.

Sanctimony will soon follow with folks with straight faces defending the bump stocks because it makes people who are handicapped fire the guns more easily. Maybe they shouldn’t own a firearm if they can’t handle a semi-automatic.

One thing is for sure. Anyone who calls for banning the bump stocks will be excoriated for suggesting that folks should not be toting modified weapons. Then, there will be the usual canard about how trucks and fertilizers kill people. Of course, bombs are already illegal. Yes, people can stab people but the reality is that automatic weapons cause more carnage. And, by the way, they are supposed to be illegal.

It’s far past the time for a little common sense to be applied to the ownership of weapons. Yet, the indefensible will be defended. The Second Amendment put into the constitution by men carrying muskets will be stretched to cover extreme weapons. On October 5, the NRA stopped short of explicitly supporting legislation to ban bump stocks, instead endorsing new federal regulation through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. There should be an outright ban.

Just ask yourself this: Would you want to live next door to the guy who gets a kick out of rapidly firing 58 bullets to celebrate his birthday? Or the gal who loves her weapon because “it just fires?" Dodge City in the Old West wasn’t this bad!

Arlene Violet is an attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General.