In what is sure to become an issue in Florida’s Senate race, Orlando Representative Val Demings voted to pass a renewed assault weapons ban through the House Judiciary Committee in Congress.
The Assault Weapons Ban would make it unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, or transfer the following:
- All semi-automatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one of the following military features: (1) pistol grip; (2) forward grip; (3) folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; (4) grenade launcher; (5) barrel shroud; or (6) threaded barrel.
- All semi-automatic rifles that have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
- Bump fire stocks and any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun.
- All semi-automatic pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one of the following military features: (1) threaded barrel; (2) second pistol grip; (3) barrel shroud; (4) capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip; or (5) semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm.
- All semi-automatic shotguns that have at least one of the following (1) a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; (2) pistol grip; (3) fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 5 rounds; (4) ability to accept a detachable magazine; (5) forward grip; (6) grenade launcher; or (7) shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
- High capacity feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.
“As a former 27-year police officer, I voted to keep the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people,” Rep. Demings said. “Assault-style weapons are used to kill mothers, fathers, children, and cops. Victims are not expected to survive because the trauma inflicted on the body is too massive. That makes it the weapon of choice for mass shooters. The American people have demanded action to reduce violent crime and we must act. We cannot sit back as America’s representatives and watch innocent people continue to be gunned down in innocent places.”
Republican Senator Marco Rubio has consistently opposed gun control measures like an assault weapon ban.
“Well, like anybody else, I’m against violence. And I’m against gun violence. I think it’s terrible. I don’t believe that an assault weapons ban would prevent it,” Senator Rubio told NPR in 2019. “I can tell you now there are states that have assault weapons bans, and the way they’re defined allows weapons of equal lethality to still be legal. They’re just cosmetic. Basically, it comes down to cosmetic features of the gun by which you define it.”
Rep. Demings, who is running for Senate as a Democrat, disagrees with Sen. Rubio.
“In 2019, a shooter in Dayton with an assault weapon shot 26 people and killed nine before police shot him just 32 seconds later,” Rep. Demings said. “Assault weapons give criminals and terrorists the ability to cause incalculable damage to our families and our communities even when law enforcement is able to respond immediately.”
“This bill would have stopped the Pulse shooter, the Parkland shooter, the Uvalde shooter, and countless others from buying their guns,” Rep. Demings added. “The American people deserve leaders with the courage to protect our communities.”
Rep. Demings is a Vice-Chair of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. She said three quarters of mass shooters buy their guns legally and when an assault weapon is used in a mass shooting, six times as many people are shot. She believes an assault weapons ban would mean 70% fewer mass shootings deaths, based on research.
Gun violence is the #1 cause of death for children in the United States. A study reviewing gun deaths in 29 high-income countries found that 97% of all gun deaths among children 4 years old or younger happened in the United States, with the other 28 countries combined making up the remaining 3%.
