US House passes bill to ban assault-style weapons
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that seeks to ban assault-style weapons, which have most widely been used in mass shootings. However, the legislation would most likely not advance in the Senate.
On Friday, the bill saw a partisan vote of 217-213, with Democrats Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Kurt Schrader of Oregon voting against the ban, while Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Chris Jacobs of New York voting for the bill, reports CNN.
These assault-style rifles are lightweight, semi-automatic weapons which widely used by hunters in the United States. They also are capable of severely damaging humans when the bullets tear through organs, bones and muscle in rapid fire.
The measure seeking to ban such weapons comes at a time when there is massive public anger over a series of mass shootings across the United States. In almost all of these incidents, assailants have reportedly used rapid-fire AR-15 rifles to kill and wound school children and adults.
“They’re easier for a teenager to get than to buy a beer. We’ve turned our churches, our schools, our shopping centres, our entertainment venues, almost any place into a battleground with one massacre after another,” Democratic Representative Lloyd Doggett said during the debate.
For many decades, Democrats have been trying to renew a federal ban on the weapon. The law was first imposed in 1994 but got expired in 2004.
According to a 2021 study by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the ban significantly reduced mass shootings during those periods.
But Republicans are against the ban, as they believe that the move is violative of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, which grants the right to “keep and bear arms.”
Democrats say that the prohibition is not a blanket measure, rather it seeks to control the sale of some guns and their enhancements.
President Joe Biden on Friday urged the Senate to back the decision.
“There can be no greater responsibility than to do all we can to ensure the safety of our families, our children, our homes, our communities, and our nation,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
