by By Phil Phillips - Monday, August 1, 2022
NRA-Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Executive Director Jason Ouimet released the following statement following the Friday vote regarding passage of H.R. 1808, NRA-ILA | NRA Statement on Congressional Semi-Automatic Firearm Ban (nraila.org) the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022:
“Barely a month after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen, gun control advocates in Congress are spearheading an assault upon the freedoms and civil liberties of law-abiding Americans. The promises made in H.R. 1808 are nothing short of a lie based on willful ignorance of the disastrous 1994 Clinton Gun Ban which failed to produce any significant drop in crime. With more than 24 million potentially-banned firearms in common use, these draconian restrictions fall in blatant opposition to the Supreme Court's rulings in Bruen, Caetano v. Massachusetts, and DC v. Heller. Their refusal to recognize this reality places everyone at risk. Any legitimate attempt to address our nation's surge in violent crime cannot commence until anti-gun legislators step away from the radicals who defund our police departments, support prosecutors who refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals, and promote no cash bail policies that have turned once proud communities into a playground of lawlessness and fear.”
This is why the NRA and more than 20 other members of the coalition American Wildlife Conservation Partners (AWCP) representing millions of hunters and shooters sent a letter to House leaders Friday in strong opposition. The letter called out how the unconstitutional legislation would enact a sweeping ban on many modern sporting rifles and magazines in addition to common shotguns used by waterfowl and upland bird hunters and clay target shooters, including the Benelli Super Black Eagle III, Browning A5, Beretta A300 Ultima, Franchi Affinity 3, and the Mossberg 940. It underscored how banning firearms used almost entirely for hunting and sporting purposes would fail to reduce violent crime while having a devastating impact on hunting and wildlife conservation funding in the United States.
“The recent tragedies that have shocked and saddened us all of us were not caused by the characteristics of firearms, ammunition or magazines but by the horrific acts of mentally impaired perpetrators,” the letter noted. … “It is vital that any policy measures pursued to achieve this end are actually effective and do not ignore the underlying causes of violent crime.”
Other defects in H.R. 1808 start with the term so-called “assault weapons,” which the media and those against firearms and law-abiding hunters and shooters regularly misuse, confusing the issue. As the NRA has explained for decades, the firearms that anti-gunners seek to ban are not automatic weapons. Rather, they are semi-automatic firearms, firing one shot per trigger pull, with any similarities in appearance being cosmetic.
Now, as the bill moves to the Senate, the reality is that the unconstitutional legislation would not benefit public safety. Instead, it would infringe on the rights of law-abiding Americans in favor of aiding criminals. Please stay tuned to this website and to the NRA-ILA website, NRAILA.org, for updates.