WASHINGTON D.C.: As the U.S. recorded the highest number of mass shootings for the second consecutive year, U.S. Senate Republicans blocked a ban on assault-style weapons proposed by Democrats on December 6.
Put forward by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the proposal would have reimplemented the Assault Weapons Ban, which was first passed in 1994 and expired ten years later.
Some semi-automatic firearms and large capacity ammunition magazines would be banned under the policy, which decreased deaths from gun violence while it was in force.
During a speech bringing the motion to the floor the same day, Schumer said, “The American people are sick and tired of enduring one mass shooting after another.”
Republican Senator John Barasso blocked Schumer’s attempt to reauthorize the ban by unanimous consent, arguing that it was about “trying to label responsible gun owners as criminals.”
“Americans have a Constitutional right to own a firearm,” he said.
According to a database managed by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are killed, not including the shooter, the U.S. has witnessed 39 mass shootings in 2023 so far.
Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of children’s deaths in the country.
