--- title: The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks description: President Trump directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to craft regulations banning bump stocks "very soon." canonical: https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-20T21:42:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:21:57.673Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks og:description: The White House says it's keeping its options open. og:url: https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644136843205d907/6989283722fb852ec0e24ce6/gettyimages-918654928.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump addresses the nation after the mass shootin in Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks twitter:description: The White House says it's keeping its options open. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644136843205d907/6989283722fb852ec0e24ce6/gettyimages-918654928.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=71836fbb-7f80-417b-b3d3-012b9273f527&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 20, 2018 9:42 PM UTC  President Donald Trump addresses the nation after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in Washington, USA on February 15, 2018\. Former student Nikolas Cruz has been apprehended and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder after attacking his former school with an AR-15 style assault rifle. President Donald Trump addresses the nation after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in Washington, USA on February 15, 2018\. Former student Nikolas Cruz has been apprehended and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder after attacking his former school with an AR-15 style assault rifle. Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 20, 2018 9:42 PM UTC President Trump directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to craft regulations banning bump stocks “very soon,” while the White House says it is keeping all options open on gun control. In the first daily briefing since a [Florida school shooting](http://time.com/5158678/what-to-know-about-the-active-shooter-situation-at-florida-high-school/) left [17 people](http://time.com/5160564/florida-high-school-shooting-victims-names/) dead, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that the Trump Administration has not put together a concrete plan. “Unfortunately, when horrific tragedies like this happen, everybody wants a quick and a simple answer,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “But there isn’t one.” Still, Sanders did offer a few policy and regulation areas that President Trump will look at in the coming weeks to try to untangle the problem of [mass shootings](http://time.com/4965022/deadliest-mass-shooting-us-history/) in America. ## Bump stocks “I can tell you that the president supports not having the use of bump stocks and that we expect further action on that in the coming days,” Sanders said Tuesday. The national spotlight turned to [bump stocks](http://time.com/4970720/bump-stocks-ban-how-work/)—accessories that increase the rate of fire on semi-automatic weapons— in the wake of last fall’s [Las Vegas shooting](http://time.com/4964666/mandalay-bay-las-vegas-shooting/) that took the lives of more than 50 people. Sanders said Trump a Justice Department and ATF review the regulation of bump stocks has been completed since then, and she expects “movement will take place on that shortly.” “Today, I am directing the Department of Justice to dedicate all available resources to complete the review of the comments received, and, as expeditiously as possible, to propose for notice and comment a rule banning all devices that turn legal weapons into machine-guns,” Trump said in a memo. ## Background checks When asked about an assault weapons ban, Sanders said “we haven’t closed the door on any front,” but then said, “Specifically, I know that background checks are something that the president is supportive of making more efficient and looking at better ways to improve that process.” ## Mental health Since the shooting, Trump has spoken more about [mental illness as a cause](http://time.com/5162927/mass-shootings-mental-health-apa/) of these events [than gun laws](http://time.com/5162178/donald-trump-florida-shooting-mental-health/). Sanders said Tuesday that the president is “very focused” on the issue, and that the White House is “working hand in hand with both the federal government as well as state and local law enforcement officials on what we legally can do” to address mental health and gun ownership. ## Listening sessions Trump is scheduled to hold a listening session on Wednesday with parents, teachers and students who experienced the Parkland shooting or live nearby. “This is a listening session to see what could be done better, what the actual concerns of the students are, what they would like to see,” said Sanders. “One of the things the president wants to do is make sure that he sits down with a number of people from across all fronts.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/"},"headline":"The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks","datePublished":"2018-02-20T21:42:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:21:57.673Z","description":"President Trump directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to craft regulations banning bump stocks \"very soon.\"","url":"https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/","keywords":["White House","Florida","Guns","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644136843205d907/6989283722fb852ec0e24ce6/gettyimages-918654928.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt644136843205d907/6989283722fb852ec0e24ce6/gettyimages-918654928.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump addresses the nation after the mass shootin in Florida","caption":"President Trump addresses the nation after the mass shootin in Florida","creditText":"Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5167354/white-house-gun-control-trump-florida/","name":"The Trump Administration Will Look Into Banning Bump Stocks"}}]}] ```