RI Congressman Announces Bill to Ban Assault Weapons Moments Before Another Mass Shooting

U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline announced on Wednesday that he plans to introduce legislation reauthorizing the Assault Weapons Ban minutes before a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif..

Cicilline made his announcement during his weekly address on gun violence.

Within minutes, another mass shooting occurred in San Bernardino.

Our sister sites in California are providing live updates on the shooting.

Below is the full text of his remarks:

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs became the target of the 351st mass shooting in the United States this year.

Three people were killed – an Iraq war veteran, a mother of two, and a local police officer. They are now among the more than 12,000 Americans who have died in gun-related incidents since the start of the year.

The shooter in Colorado Springs is reported to have used a semi-automatic, AK-47 style firearm – an assault weapon that has its origins in Stalin’s Soviet Army.

This firearm and others like it are weapons of war, not tools for self-defense.

They serve no purpose other than to kill.

And we can no longer permit the proliferation of, and easy access to, these weapons in the United States.

That’s why, in the coming weeks, I will be introducing legislation that reauthorizes the Assault Weapons Ban.

During the ten years this ban was in effect, localities reported as much as a 72% decline in gun crimes involving assault weapons.

And today, 59% of American voters support a ban on the purchase of semi-automatic and assault weapons.

The only thing that stands in the way is Congress’s failure to act. The time for action is now.