Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) will co-sponsor a new version of the federal assault weapons ban, which will unveiled at a press conference on Monday.
The bill, which has already been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), is scheduled to be introduced in the House once the lower chamber returns to session.
The proposed bill would ban weapons with features including folding stocks, grenade launchers and barrel shrouds. It also includes a list of specific firearms to be prohibited, including AK style semiautomatic rifles and versions of the AR-15 – the type of gun used by Adam Lanza to kill 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School including 20 first graders.
McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son severely injured during a 1993 mass shooting at a Long Island Rail Road station, said the measure was a necessary response after the killing of children at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school and would help save lives.
“I’ve watched the slaughter of so many people and I have met with so many victims over the years. And in Congress, nobody wanted to touch the issue,” McCarthy said at a press conference introducing the proposed ban. “And the last several years the massacres were going on more and more. And going through it, I kept saying, what’s wrong with all of us? How many people have to be killed before we do something?”
The bill will likely face stiff opposition once it comes to the floor. House Republicans have historically opposed efforts to tighten regulations on gun ownership, and a significant numbers of Democrats in moderate or conservative districts could face electoral consequences for supporting the ban.
The new bill seeks to reinstate and tighten the 1994 ban, which expired in 2004. While the original ban required a gun to possess two of a list of features to be branded an assault weapon, the new version would require just one characteristic for a gun to be banned. The bill also includes a ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.
The National Rifle Association came out strongly against the ban, calling it ineffective and an attack on the Second Amendment rights of gun owners.
“Sen. Feinstein has been trying to ban guns from law-abiding citizens for decades,” the NRA said in a statement. “It’s disappointing but not surprising that she is once again focused on curtailing the Constitution instead of prosecuting criminals or fixing our broken mental health system. The American people know gun bans do not work and we are confident Congress will reject Sen. Feinstein’s wrong-headed approach.”
