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Mass. bump stock ban proposals to get hearing at State House

The bump stock fits onto the back of a semi-automatic rifle to increase its rate of fire, making it similar to a fully automatic rifle.George Frey/Getty Images

A public hearing on legislation to ban “bump stocks” in Massachusetts will be held Wednesday morning at the State House.

The informational hearing is being convened by Senator Michael Moore, a Millbury Democrat, to gather input from the public and from interest groups, the State House News Service reported.

The House of Representatives last week voted for a ban. The legislation, included as an amendment to a supplemental budget, would ban bump stocks and other devices that increase a gun’s rate of fire, and would forbid people from modifying any gun to increase its rate of fire.

The Senate last week also voted for a bump stock ban in a similar amendment to its own version of the supplemental budget bill.

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The amendments passed in both chambers with bipartisan support, with only three “Nay” votes out of 155 in the House and no “Nay” votes in the Senate. The two Democratic-dominated chambers will need to reach a compromise on final language if they want the ban to pass as part of the supplemental budget.

Republican Governor Charlie Baker has already said he would sign a bump stock ban.

Moore said Monday that the hearing will “provide members of the public and stakeholders the opportunity to weigh-in on these important legislative provisions,” the news service reported.

The legislation was filed in the House and Senate in the wake of a mass shooting in Las Vegas this month that killed 58 people. The perpetrator of that shooting, Stephen Paddock, apparently used the bump stock devices to fire more rapidly, as he rained death down on an unsuspecting concert crowd.

The passage of the legislation in Massachusetts comes as even the NRA has shown some support for regulating bump stock devices.

The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in Room 222 of the State House.

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Ben Thompson can be reached at ben.thompson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Globe_Thompson