The Latest: Massachusetts adopts ban on bump stocks

BOSTON – The Latest on Massachusetts adopting a ban on bump stocks (all times local):

4 p.m.

Massachusetts has become the first state to adopt a ban on bump stocks since the mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival.

Republican Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito (poh-LEE’-toh) on Friday signed into law an appropriations bill that included a prohibition on the devices, which can make a semi-automatic rifle mimic the firing action of a fully automatic weapon.

Authorities say Stephen Paddock used a bump stock while firing on concert-goers from his hotel room.

The Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, an affiliate of the National Rifle Association, had called on Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to veto the ban. Among other objections, the group said the potential penalties were too harsh.

Baker is on vacation outside the state, but had expressed his support for banning bump stocks in the days after the worst mass shooting in modern American history on Oct. 1.

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1 p.m.

A gun rights advocacy group is calling on Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to veto a measure that would make the state the first to ban bump stocks since the mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival.

Baker, a Republican who is on vacation outside the state, has previously said he supports banning the devices.

The Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts sent an alert to its members Friday urging them to call the governor’s office and demand a veto.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature added the bump stock ban to an appropriations bill that was approved Thursday night.

Authorities say the devices, which can make a semi-automatic rifle mimic the firing action of a fully automatic weapon, was used by the gunman in the Oct. 1 shooting that killed 58 people.