US House of Representatives passes bill to ban assault-style weapons

The bill was passed in a largely party-line vote of 217-213, as two Republicans voted for the measure while five Democrats opposed it, reported the Hill.

As per the details,, Democrats Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Kurt Schrader of Oregon voted against the ban. Meanwhile, Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Chris Jacobs of New York voted for the bill.

Despite the bill to ban assault-style weapon received bipartisan support in the House, chances of progressing in the Senate is less due to widespread Republican opposition. Most of the Democrats in the House cited the recent mass shootings involving such firearms as a pressing reason to outlaw them.

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Earlier on Friday, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would take up the legislation that afternoon, adding the the chamber would put consideration of the legislation to next month, the Hill reported.

“Today, our Democratic Majority will take up and pass the Assault Weapons Ban legislation: a crucial step in our ongoing fight against the deadly epidemic of gun violence in our nation,” Pelosi said in a letter to members of her party ahead of the vote.

Citing the lack of accountability in the police measures, some liberals voiced concerns. The Democrats had planned to move the assault weapons ban with community safety legislation under one rule.

According to the bill, led by Representative David Cicilline and co-sponsored by 207 voting Democrats, it calls for prohibiting the sale, manufacture, transfer or import of various semiautomatic assault weapons, semiautomatic pistols and semiautomatic shotguns, depending on their features.

This bill marks the first time in almost three decades that Congress had approved significant legislation to combat gun violence. The voting for this bill has been passed by the House following a string of mass shootings the country has witnessed.

US President Joe Biden in June signed into law a gun safety bill, which was cleared by the House and Senate both in a bipartisan manner and urged US Congress to ban assault weapons.

Expressing concerns over the increasing incidents of gun violence in the US, Biden had said that the US needs to ban assault weapons for the sake of protecting children and families or raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. There have been 302 mass shootings across the US in 2022, as per the Gun Violence Archive.

With ANI inputs. 

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