Donald Trump urges Justice Department to ban rapid-fire 'bump stock' gun modifiers
President Donald Trump has signed proposals for regulations to "ban all devices" like bump stocks, which were used in the Las Vegas shooting.
A bump stock enables a gun to be turned into an automatic weapon similar to a machine gun that can fire out hundreds of bullets a minute.
Mr Trump says he has signed a memorandum directing the Justice Department to propose the regulations.
Seeking to show action days after a deadly school shooting in Florida, Trump spoke during a White House ceremony recognising bravery by the nation's public safety officers.
"We must move past cliches and tired debates and focus on evidence based solutions and security measures that actually work," Trump said.
The device Trump referred to was used in the October shooting in Las Vegas which killed 58 people, the device attached to six of the long guns found in the shooter's hotel room.
Unsuccessful efforts were made last year to ban the device.
Pressure has been mounting for action after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting which killed 17 people.
Trump has also indicated he is open to a limited strengthening of federal background checks on gun purchases.
Over the weekend, the White House said he had spoken to Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn about a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers.
The US President has previously voiced strong support for gun rights and the National Rifle Association.
What is a bump stock and how does it work?
Originally intended to help people with disabilities, a bump stock is a legal device that fits below the trigger of a gun to convert a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon.
A semi-automatic weapon fires a single bullet with each pull of the trigger, whereas an automatic fires for as long as you compress the trigger.
The bump stock, which is fitted by the trigger, allows the weapon to fire continuously - some 400 to 800 rounds in a single minute.
Most automatic rifles have been illegal to own in the US since 1986, so bump stocks create a loophole in the law.
Slide Fire, one of the companies that sell the device, said this week that they were out of stock "due to extreme high demand".