An Indian American man has been indicted in Texas for possessing a bump stock attached to his rifle, the first known case since the device was banned by the Trump administration earlier this year.
Prosecutors said Ajay Dhingra, 43, of Houston, is charged with possessing a machine gun, two counts of making false statements to acquire a firearm and possessing a firearm after having been judged a mental defective or being committed to a mental institution.
The bump stocks are the attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in sustained, rapid bursts.
Authorities were tipped off about Dhingra last month when he called the George W. Bush Foundation and left a "concerning message."
The Associated Press, citing court records, reported that Dhingra also sent an email to the foundation asking the former president to "send one of your boys to come and murder me."
Dhingra was also found to have been previously committed to a mental institution and was barred from possessing a firearm or ammunition.
Dhingra is being held in a federal detention center in Houston.
The nationwide bump stock ban took effect in March of this year, under the same federal law that prohibits possessing machine guns. The devices became a focal point of the national gun control debate after the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, in which a gunman opened fire on a music festival, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more.
Investigators found that the gunman used a bump stock to fire 1,100 rounds of ammunition from the 32nd-floor suite of his hotel.
