A Republican senator shot down a Democrat’s try to pass a bump stock ban after the Supreme Court’s ruling last week to allow access to the firearm accessory.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, New Mexico Democrat, sought unanimous consent Tuesday on the chamber floor — just four days after the high court’s ruling — to pass his Banning Unlawful Machinegun Part (BUMP) Act. 

The bill is bipartisan, with Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, signing on to support the legislation, which would codify into federal law a ban on buying and selling bump stocks.

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“There is NO legitimate use for a bump stock. Not for self-defense. Not for law enforcement. Not even in military applications as they are less accurate than a standard fully automatic military platform. What they are tailor-made for is a mass shooting,” Mr. Heinrich said.

But his effort was squashed by Sen. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Republican, who opposed the move to unanimously pass the legislation, saying it was an attempt to impose broader gun control.

“This bill may be called the BUMP Act, but it’s not really about bump stocks. This bill is about banning as many firearm accessories as possible, giving ATF broad authority to ban most semiautomatic firearms,” Mr. Ricketts said.

Mr. Heinrich’s push for his legislation came after the Supreme Court split along ideological lines Friday in ruling against a ban on bump stocks, saying a federal agency overstepped five years ago in trying to classify them as machine guns.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives banned them in 2018 in the aftermath of a shooting that killed 60 people and wounded at least 413 in Las Vegas.

Bump stocks were used by the gunman in the 2017 massacre. Though they’re not firearms themselves, bump stocks let semiautomatic weapons fire repeatedly at high speed.

The agency pointed to a law passed decades prior by Congress banning machine guns, saying that also applied to bump stocks.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion, reasoning machine guns are different from semiautomatic rifles equipped with bump stocks.

“A bump stock does not alter the basic mechanics of bump firing. As with any semiautomatic firearm, the trigger still must be released and reengaged to fire each additional shot,” he wrote. “Machine guns can ordinarily achieve higher rates of fire than semiautomatic firearms because the shooter does not need to release and reengage the trigger between shots.”

The three Democratic appointees — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented, arguing the majority was wrong in saying that bump stocks don’t operate the same as a machine gun.

“When I see a bird that walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck,” wrote Justice Sotomayor.