Semi-automatic firearms would be banned in a new bill introduced by House Democrats Monday.
Rep. David Cicilline introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 and, according to Rep. Ted Deutch, over 150 Democrats have signed their support of the legislation.
The bill prohibits the “sale, transfer, production, and importation” of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can accept a detachable magazine as well as those with a fixed magazine that can hold over 10 rounds.
It also bans the “sale, transfer, production, and importation of any ammunition feeding device that can hold more than 10 rounds” and any of the 205 “specifically-named and listed firearms.”
Cicilline’s 205 specifically banned firearms include the AK-47 and AR-15, according to the Washington Examiner.
The AR-15 has been used most recently in the deadly shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 and the Las Vegas music festival on Oct. 1.
“Assault weapons were made for one purpose,” Cicilline wrote in a news release. “They are designed to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time. They do not belong in our communities.”
He added, “When assault weapons or a highly-capacity magazine is used in a shooting, the number of victims who are killed increases by 63 percent.”
Gun control activists began to campaign against “assault weapons” in the 1980s, according to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
“The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons,” handgun ban activist Josh Sugarmann said in 1988.
An “assault weapon” ban introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and campaigned for by former President Bill Clinton was imposed from 1994-2004.
“It allowed the same firearms to be made without attachments such as a flash suppressor or folding stock, and allowed the importation of over 50 million magazines that held more than 10 rounds,” NRA Institute for Legislative Action reported.
After the flawed plan, many Democrats who supported the ban were voted out of office in the 1994 elections.
Feinstein introduced a bigger gun and magazine ban in 2013, banning 157 firearms by name instead of the 19 banned in 1994.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro commented on CNN’s Anti-Gun Town Hall last week and dared Democrats to ban all semi-automatic weapons and see how voters respond come Election Day.
“All that’s happening is the ongoing demonization of those who disagree with unrealistic, vague and evidenceless anti-gun buzzwords,” he said.
Shapiro doesn’t think a ban on guns will solve the issue of mass shootings, but in an op-ed, the editor in chief of The Daily Wire put forward several ideas that might actually work.
“We can insist that our law enforcement agencies actually enforce the law,” he wrote, pointing out that the FBI had received prior warnings about the suspected Florida shooter, but did nothing.
Moreover, “we should ensure more transparency in the background-check system with regard to mental health records, and we should look to ease the regulations on involuntary commitment of the dangerously mentally ill,” Shapiro wrote.
Finally, he wrote that “we should also radically increase security in schools.” (For more from the author of “Democrats Move to Outlaw 50% of New Guns in America” please click HERE)
Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
