Giffords Hails Bipartisan House Vote to Ban Assault Weapons

Washington DC — Today, Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, hailed the bipartisan House vote to ban assault weapons.

“Today’s vote in the House was an important step forward to prevent gun violence and save lives. This summer we’ve seen communities across the country devastated by mass shootings–made deadlier because of assault weapons. These weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. We’ve witnessed their deadly effectiveness in Sandy Hook, Parkland, Highland Park, Buffalo, and Uvalde, and it’s time that we stopped allowing people with dangerous intentions to access weapons of war so easily. Passing the Assault Weapons Ban today will help keep more communities safe. We thank Congressman David Cicilline for his leadership on this vital legislation.”

Earlier this week Giffords Senior Advisor Ryan Busse, a former firearm executive and author of Gunfight, testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee regarding the deliberate decision of the firearms industry to market and scale the production of assault weapons in search of new profits. This led to an explosion of the sale of assault weapons, with disturbing marketing ploys aimed at troubled and radicalized young men. His testimony can be found here.

Assault weapons are designed to maximize the number of people shot in the shortest amount of time. The most common variety, the AR-15, is the civilian version of the M16, a combat rifle that made its debut on the battlefield in Vietnam. Military features clearly distinguish assault weapons from standard sporting firearms; these features are what enable shooters to fire many rounds quickly and accurately, with or without the use of sights, while retaining control of the weapon. Assault weapons are made more lethal because of their ability to  accept large capacity magazines, allowing shooters to fire many rounds without having to reload. For this reason, assault weapons are frequently the guns of choice for individuals who carry out horrific public attacks and were used in some of the deadliest shootings in our nation’s history. Between 1994 and 2004, certain “semiautomatic assault weapons” were banned at the federal level, with research showing that mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur during the period the ban was enacted compared to the periods before and after the ban. That law expired in 2004 and no similar federal law has been enacted.

FACT SHEET: Assault Weapons Ban of 2021

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