US House of Representatives passes semi-automatic gun ban after 18-year lapse

The United States House of Representatives passed legislation to revive a ban on semi-automatic guns on Friday.

The vote was the first of its kind in years, and a direct response to the once-banned firearms often used in mass shootings in the US.

Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby and reinstate the weapons ban.

The bill comes at a time of intensifying concerns about gun violence and shootings. Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the vote toward passage in the Democratic-run House, saying the earlier ban “saved lives.” The House legislation is shunned by Republicans, who dismissed it as an election-year strategy by Democrats.

Almost all Republicans voted against the bill, which passed 217-213. It will likely stall in the 50-50 Senate.

President Joe Biden, who was instrumental in helping secure the first semi-automatic weapons ban as a senator in 1994, encouraged passage, promising to sign the bill if it reached his desk.

In a statement before the vote, his administration said: "We know an assault weapons and large-capacity magazine ban will save lives.” The Biden administration said for 10 years while the ban was in place, mass shootings declined. “When the ban expired in 2004, mass shootings tripled,” the statement said. Republicans stood firmly against limits on ownership of the high-powered firearms during an at times emotional debate ahead of voting.

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“It’s a gun grab, pure and simple,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, while Rep. Andrew Clyde echoed: “An armed America is a safe and free America.” Democrats argued that the ban on the weapons makes sense. Rep. Jim McGovern said the weapons ban is not about taking away Americans' Second Amendment rights but ensuring that children also have the right “to not get shot in school.” Pelosi displayed a poster of a gun company's advertisement for children's weapons, smaller versions that resemble the popular AR-15 rifles and are marketed with cartoon-like characters. “Disgusting," she said. The bill would make it unlawful to import, sell or manufacture a long list of semi-automatic weapons.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler said it exempts those already in possession. Congress passed a modest gun violence prevention package just last month in the aftermath of the tragic shooting of 19 school children and two teachers in Uvalde.

That bipartisan bill was the first of its kind after years of failed efforts to confront the gun lobby, including after a similar 2012 mass tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That law provides for expanded background checks on young adults buying firearms, allowing authorities to access certain juvenile records. It also closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by denying gun purchases for those convicted of domestic abuse outside of marriages. The new law also frees up federal funding to the states, including for “red flag” laws that enable authorities to remove guns from those who would harm themselves or others. But even that modest effort at halting gun violence came at a time of grave uncertainty in the US over restrictions on firearms as the more conservative Supreme Court is tackling gun rights and other issues. Biden signed the measure two days after the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down a New York law that restricted people's ability to carry concealed weapons.