US gun stores running out of bump stocks

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, attaches a device called a bump stock to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault store and shooting range. Photo / AP

American gun suppliers are selling out of 'bump stock' devices in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre.

Gunman Stephen Paddock used the legal device to make semi-automatic weapons automatic - when he sprayed bullets onto a music festival crowd.

The White House and even the NRA is now conceding it is time to talk about restricting them.

Georgia Gun Store owner Kellie Weeks said bump stocks are not typically big sellers, but they've started flying off the shelves since Monday.

"We're sold out of them and all our distributors are sold out of them."

"People are concerned that they're going to be outlawed. They're thinking that if they get one now that they'll be grandfathered in," said Weeks.

Weeks said bump stocks are viewed as novelty by gun owners.

"People bought them before just to have fun and when they go to the range they can shoot really fast with them," she said.

"The novelty runs out pretty fast because the ammo costs so much and you're goin' through it so quickly that it tends to be a waste of money,"

Ms Weeks said the shooting was horrific but is against banning the devices.

"Everybody else shouldn't pay the price for one man's evil," Weeks said.