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Following a string of tragic mass shootings, the US House of Representatives on Friday advanced a bill that would outlaw assault weapons for the first time in decades. The proposal passed the Democratic-majority House by a vote of 217 to 213 and now moves to the Senate, where it is almost certainly bound to fail. Despite the terrible epidemic of mass shootings, gun reform in the US remains incredibly controversial, with only two Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the assault weapons ban in the House.
Democrats only hold 50 seats in the 100-member Senate, so 10 votes from Republicans are required to bring a bill to the floor for discussion.
Congress enacted a ban on assault rifles and some high-capacity magazines in 1994 for a period of ten years, but politicians allowed it to expire in 2004, and sales of the weapons have since skyrocketed.
The most recent legislation was hailed as “a significant step in our continued battle against the tragic pandemic of gun violence in our society” by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Certain semi-automatic weapons, like those used in recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois, would be prohibited from sale, import, manufacture, and transfer.
In May, 10 African Americans were murdered in a Buffalo grocery by an openly racist individual.
In the same month, an 18-year-old man murdered 19 students and two instructors at an elementary school in Uvalde, and seven people were shot and killed at a July 4 parade in Highland Park.
President Joe Biden urged Congress to once more outlaw assault firearms or, at the very least, raise the purchase age from 18 to 21 following the Uvalde atrocity.
Republican lawmakers, however, have resisted because they believe that such a ban violates their constitutional right to keep and carry guns.
In a statement, Biden stated that “40,000 Americans suffer gunshot wounds every year, and firearms are now the leading cause of child fatalities in the country.
He declared, “We know a prohibition on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines will save lives.
In a study this week, a House committee said that sales of semiautomatic guns in the AR-15 model brought in $1 billion for US gun manufacturers over the previous ten years.
Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney stated, “The gun industry has saturated our communities, our schools, and even our churches and synagogues with these lethal weapons and has become rich doing it.”
At a meeting when relatives of gun murder victims were present, the New York member stated, “They are putting their bottom line over the lives of their fellow Americans.”
Republican legislators retaliated against their Democratic counterparts.
Representative James Comer of Kentucky asserted that gun makers are not the root of violent crime. “Violent crime is caused by criminals.”
Comer stated, “We’ll continue to defend the rights of all law-abiding gun owners who handle, store, and carry guns in a secure manner, including the AR-15.
