The House Judiciary Committee is moving forward next week with reviewing legislation sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) that would ban so-called “assault weapons.”
The committee, led by chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), will hold its markup on Wednesday on H.R. 1808, which would make importing, selling, manufacturing, or transferring certain semiautomatic firearms illegal.
Nadler made the announcement Friday morning, though it was first reported by Breitbart News on Thursday night.
“Over the past several decades, our country has witnessed senseless killing after senseless kill and each time one fact has remained remarkably consistent—the weapon of choice for mass slaughter is a high-powered assault weapon,” Nadler said in a statement, adding, “This markup is another step in our efforts to make our communities safer.”
Nadler said he expects the bill to pass through the committee and move to the House floor for a full vote soon thereafter. The full vote would likely happen by the end of July as the House is in session through July 29 before it breaks for a month-long August recess.
A sign calling for a ban on assault type weapons is held at a mass protest in Los Angeles, United States. (David McNew/Getty Images)
Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who opposes the legislation, told Breitbart News in a statement, “They’re not hiding it anymore, they’re coming for your guns. The attack on the Second Amendment continues.”
It remains unclear if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has enough votes for her party to pass the bill. Democrats maintain a narrow majority in the House, though some moderate Democrats could defect from their party and vote against the bill, while most if not all Republicans are expected to vote against it.
The bill is likely to be dead on arrival in the Senate, where it does not currently have the 60 votes needed to pass.
The move by House Democrats comes after Congress in June already passed a gun control package, which came in response to the deadly Uvalde, Texas, shooting. The package, among its provisions, expands background checks for certain gun buyers and uses taxpayer money to incentivize states to enact red flag laws, as Breitbart News’s AWR Hawkins reported.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.
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