The House passed legislation reviving a ban on certain semi-automatic firearms in response to hundreds of mass shootings in the US this year. It was the first vote of its kind in years and was dismissed by Republicans as a “gun grab” that would limit American freedom. Once banned in the US, high-powered semi-automatic assault rifles are now the weapon of choice for young men behind the deadliest mass shootings. Congress allowed restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sale of the weapons to expire a decade later. He was unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby and reinstate the gun ban. Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the vote through the Democratic House, saying the previous ban “saved lives.” Hailing yesterday’s vote in the House, President Joe Biden said: “The majority of the American people agree with this common sense action.” POTUS urged the Senate to “move quickly to bring this bill to my desk,” but it’s likely to stall in the upper chamber 50-50. But the new bill is likely to fail in the Senate as Republicans rally against the move (Image: EPA) Republicans have shied away from the legislation, dismissing it as an election-year strategy by Democrats. Almost all GOP members voted against the House bill, which passed 217-213. The bill comes at a time of heightened concerns about gun violence and shootings, including the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, the school massacre in Uvalde and the July 4 shooting in Highland Park. Voters seem to take such votes seriously during an election year, as Congress splits along party lines and lawmakers are forced to stick to their views. A recent vote to protect same-sex marriage from potential Supreme Court legal challenges garnered a surprising amount of bipartisan support. Biden was instrumental in securing the first ban on semi-automatic weapons as a senator in 1994. His administration said that for 10 years while the ban was in place, mass shootings declined. “When the ban ended in 2004, mass shootings tripled,” his office said in a statement. President Joe Biden said mass shootings had “tripled” since the previous ban ended (Image: Reuters) Republicans came out firmly against limits on the ownership of high-powered firearms during an at times emotional debate before the vote. “It’s a gun, pure and simple,” said Pennsylvania Representative Guy Resenthaler. Gun store owner and Georgia representative Andrew Clyde added, “An armed America is a safe and free America.” Democrats have argued that the gun ban makes sense, portraying Republicans as extreme and uncaring for Americans. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the gun ban is not about taking away Americans’ Second Amendment rights. Instead, he said it’s about making sure kids also have the right “not to be shot at school.” Pelosi showed a poster of a gun company advertising children’s guns. He said the idea of smaller versions resembling popular AR-15 rifles being marketed with cartoon-like characters is “disgusting.” The gun lobby dismissed the move as a power grab (Image: AFP/Getty Images) “Your freedom stops where mine, and my constituents’, begins,” Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur told Republican Jim Jordan in a tense exchange. “Schools, malls, grocery stores, Independence Day parades should not be scenes of mass slaughter and bloodshed,” he said. Jordan responded by inviting her to his congressional district to discuss the Second Amendment with him. He said he believes most of his constituents “probably agree with me and agree with the Constitution of the United States.” The bill would make it illegal to import, sell or manufacture a large list of semi-automatic weapons. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, said it includes an exception that allows possession of existing semi-automatic weapons. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has hit out at the ‘disgusting’ marketing of undersized guns to children (Image: AP) Representatives Chris Jacobs of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania were the only Republicans to vote in favor of the measure. Democratic lawmakers who voted no were Reps. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ron Kind of Wisconsin and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas. For nearly two decades, since the previous ban expired, Democrats have been reluctant to revisit the issue and confront the gun lobby. But voter opinion appears to be shifting, and Democrats have been emboldened to act before the fall elections. The executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, Jason Quimet, said gun control advocates are “leading an assault on the liberties and civil liberties of law-abiding Americans.” He said the bill potentially bans millions of firearms “in stark contrast to Supreme Court rulings” that have established gun ownership as an individual right and extend to it. Among the semi-automatic weapons banned will be some 200-plus types of semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s and pistols. The restrictions will not apply to many other models.
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Democrats have tried to tie the gun ban to a broader package of public safety measures that would increase federal funding for law enforcement. It’s something that centrist Democrats in tough re-election campaigns wanted to shield them from political attacks from their soft-on-crime Republican opponents. Pelosi said the House will take up the public safety bills again in August, when lawmakers are expected to briefly return to Washington to handle other remaining pieces of legislation. Congress passed a modest gun violence prevention package just last month, following the tragic shooting of 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde. Global outrage after the sea turns red from the slaughter of 100 bottlenose dolphins This bipartisan bill was the first of its kind after years of failed attempts to counter the gun lobby, including after a similar mass tragedy in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Provides for expanded background checks on young adults who purchase firearms, allowing authorities to access certain juvenile records. The law also closes the so-called “friend loophole” denying gun purchases to those convicted of domestic abuse outside of marriage. It also frees up federal funding to states, including “red flag” laws that allow authorities to take away guns from those who would harm themselves or others. However, there is still considerable uncertainty about the future of gun rights in the US. Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court ruled to strike down a New York law that limited people’s ability to carry concealed weapons. Contact our news team by emailing us at [email protected] For more stories like this, check out our news page.
