Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) countered Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) push for an “assault weapons” ban Wednesday by noting that “Democrats defunded the police, and now they want to disarm the American people.”

Barrasso said, “Democrats are demanding that the American people give up their liberty.”

He made it clear that the Democrat-sponsored “assault weapons” ban “takes away a right.”

Barrasso noted:

Democrats want Washington to ban rifles and pistols because of the way they look. To do this, they describe semi-automatic rifles as “assault rifles,” [but] they aren’t. These rifles work the same way as popular shotguns and other rifles used for hunting and personal protection. Instead of facing these facts, Democrats stick to demonizing rifles and disrespecting gun owners.

He concluded, “I oppose any policies that jeopardize the Second Amendment rights of the people of Wyoming and the people across this country. The Second Amendment is freedom’s essential safeguard.”

On Monday, Breitbart News noted that Schumer planned to bring an “assault weapons” ban to the Senate floor “this week.” When he announced his intentions, he also claimed the 1994-2004 “assault weapons” ban reduced gun crime, particularly mass shootings.

The Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice released a study as the “assault weapons” ban was ending and pointed out that any impact the ban had on crime was negligible.

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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.