Source: United States Senator for California – Dianne Feinstein
Washington—The House of Representatives today passed the Assault Weapons Ban, a bill introduced by Senator Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Congressman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
“The House voted today to save lives by passing the Assault Weapons Ban,” Senator Feinstein said. “I hope the Senate will follow its lead and pass this commonsense bill to end gun violence. Military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines serve only one purpose: to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. That is why they are the weapon of choice in so many mass shootings. It’s long past time to remove them from our streets.”
“There are more guns than people in this country – more mass shootings than days in the year. This is a uniquely American problem,” said Congressman Cicilline. “In 2022 alone, more than 160 people have been killed by an assault weapon and more than 245 have been injured. This bill will not stop all gun violence, but it will effectively decrease it. Researchers estimate that if we still had a federal assault weapons ban, we would see 70 percent fewer mass shooting deaths. And while nothing we do can bring back 70 percent of these victims to their family and friends, we can honor their memories with action and prevent more carnage moving forward. I urge the Senate to pass this bill immediately and send it to the President for his signature.”
Key provisions:
- Bans the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name. Owners may keep existing weapons.
- Bans any assault weapon with the capacity to utilize 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. Owners may keep existing weapons.
- Bans 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. Owners may keep existing magazines.
- Requires a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.
- Requires that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device like a trigger lock.
- Prohibits the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.
- Bans bump-fire stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at fully automatic rates.
Exemptions to bill:
- The bill exempts by name more than 2,200 guns for hunting, household defense or recreational purposes.
- The bill includes a grandfather clause that exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment.
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