Demand a Federal Ban on Assault Weapons

In 2004, the National Rifle Association (NRA) successfully pressured the Republican-controlled government into preventing the renewal of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. The ban had been working to protect lives; after it expired the number of gun massacre deaths, which had decreased over 40% during the ban, jumped nearly 2.5 fold.

Gun violence experts are now renewing their calls for a nationwide ban on these types of weapons - and Americans agree - recent surveys show a majority of Americans support a nationwide assault weapons ban.

To reinstate an assault weapons ban, Senate Democrats have introduced [S.25, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023] (https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/25), which would ban future sales of military-style assault weapons, including the AR-15 used in many recent gun massacres.

Specifically the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 would:

• Ban the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name;

• Ban any assault weapon with the capacity to use a magazine that is not a fixed ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock;

• Ban magazines and other ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to reload;

• Require a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon permitted by the bill;

• Prohibit the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines; and

• Ban bump-fire stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at fully automatic rates; however

• The bill includes a grandfather clause that exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment.

Legislators must act now before any more lives are lost. Demand they support S. 25 to ban the military grade weapons flooding our communities.