The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to ban some assault weapons on Wednesday.
The committee approved the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021 in a 25-18 vote.
If the measure passes, it would be the most far-reaching response yet to this summer’s mass shootings. But passage is far from assured.
Some moderate Democrats are wary of voting on sweeping gun controls before the November elections and the bill seems to have little chance of becoming law due to opposition in the Senate.
The push for a ban on assault-type weapons comes nearly two decades after Congress allowed similar restrictions to lapse.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline from Rhode Island, specifically aims to prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer and import of all semi-automatic rifles, if those rifles can accept a detachable magazine and they have a pistol grip.
The bill would also ban such weapons when they have a grenade launcher, a barrel shroud or a threaded barrel, a forward grip or a folding, telescoping or detachable stock, along with other measures to restrict the firearms.
It also places restrictions on semi-automatic rifles with fixed magazines that can fit more than 10 rounds, bump fire stocks, high-capacity feeding devices that can hold more than 10 rounds, and semi-automatic shotguns with specific features.
The measure does not, however, apply to antique firearms, manually-operated firearms and upwards of 2,000 specific models of firearms used for hunting and sporting.
