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GOP gubernatorial candidate in Georgia offering free bump stock

A Republican candidate running in the Georgia race for governor took to Twitter this week to announce he's giving away a bump stock -- the controversial device added to a semi-automatic weapon to make it fully automatic.

Sen. Michael Williams set up a page on his website that allows users to fill out a form so that "one lucky winner" would be chosen. Apparently this giveaway is his attempt to oppose any attempts of legislation that would regulate or ban bump stocks.

Williams' tweet mentions that the giveaway is a "show of support to defenders of #2A" -- a reference to the Second Amendment -- and included the hashtag for "Make America Great Again":

The giveaway comes amid a push to ban the device after Stephen Paddock used more than a dozen bump stocks when he opened fire on a music festival, killing 58 and injuring hundreds more.

The devices allowed him to modify his semi-automatic weapons so that they fired with the rapidity of automatic weapons.

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"The tragedy in Las Vegas broke my heart, but any talk of banning or regulating bump stocks is merely cheap political lip service from career politicians. In reality, the bump stock is the new, shiny object politicians are using to deceive voters into believing they are taking action against gun violence," Williams said in a statement on his website. "You cannot regulate evil out of existence. Blaming guns or bump stocks for the actions of a lunatic, is the same as blaming McDonald's for heart disease"

The statement continued, saying that Williams stands with Georgia's gun owners.

"There is zero evidence that banning bump stocks would prevent any gun violence deaths," Williams said. "Georgia's gun owners deserve a governor who will stand with them when liberals and Hollywood elites attack our fundamental rights. That's why I am standing for the Second Amendment and giving away a bump stock as a show of support."

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Meanwhile, Speaker Paul Ryan, (R-Wis.), suggested Oct. 11 that House Republicans would prefer that the executive branch overturn the regulation that has allowed bump stocks rather than a legislative fix. He said it would be the "smartest, quickest fix," adding, "We are still trying to assess why the ATF let this go through in the first place ... Yes, it makes sense that this is a regulation that probably shouldn't have happened in the first place."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is the federal agency that reviewed the bump stock device manufactured by the company Slide Fire and determined in 2010 that the accessory complied with the law. Machines guns have been outlawed since 1986. ATF officials determined in their evaluation of the product that it could not be regulated by the agency.

"The stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed," John Spencer, the chief of the ATF's Firearms Technology Branch, wrote to Slide Fire in a 2010 letter. "We find that the 'bump-stock' is a firearm part and is not regulated as a firearm under Gun Control Act [GCA] or the National Firearms Act [NFA]."

CBS News' Rebecca Shabad contributed to this report.

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