One week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) failed to secure passage of an “assault weapons” ban the Biden Administration is shifting its attention to state legislatures, asking them to ban AR-15s and similar rifles.
On December 6, 2023, Breitbart News reported that Schumer brought an “assault weapons” ban to the Senate that Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and other Republicans rejected and defeated.
On December 13, 2023, The Washington Post noted that the Biden administration is shifting the focus to state legislatures, urging them to pass the gun ban that could not be passed in the U.S. Senate. The administration also wants states to pass laws that would allow gun companies to be sued over the criminal use of legally made firearms.
One hundred legislators from 39 states gathered at the White House Wednesday to hear Vice President Kamala Harris announce the shift in focus. Harris said, “We are fighting just for what is reasonable and, of course, what is right.”
Stefanie Feldman, director of the White House office of gun violence prevention, said, “We are going to continue to call on Congress to act but in the meantime, we are going to be working hand in hand with states to advance all these agenda items.”
Rep. Lucy McBeth (D-GA) tried to encourage gun control advocates by pointing out the shift in focus does not mean an end to the administration’s gun control goals. She said, “We’re certainly not finished.”
Gun Owners of America’s (GOA) director of federal affairs, Aidan Johnston, took a different view, saying, “[The] shift to state-level actions indicates a reluctance to push new anti-gun measures through Congress.”
Johnston suggested the shift in focus “underscores [GOA’s] success in resisting federal gun control.”
WATCH: Here’s the Difference Between an AR-15 and an “Assault Weapon”
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.