The top Republican in the House says he's open to considering a possible ban on "bump stocks," the device the shooter in Las Vegas apparently used to make semi-automatic rifles perform more like fully automatic weapons.

Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday it's "clearly something we need to look into."

The comments from lawmakers including No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas mark a surprising departure from the GOP's general antipathy to gun regulations of any kind.

The devices are known as "bump stocks," among other names. They're legal and originally were intended to help people with limited hand mobility fire a semi-automatic without the individual trigger pulls required.