Democrats Deliver As House Passes Assault Weapons Ban

By a narrow vote of 217-213, the House passed a bill reinstating the assault weapons ban.

CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted:

217-213, House passes bill to reinstate assault weapons ban. Bill lacks 60 votes in Senate. Dems Henry Cuellar, Jared Golden, Ron Kind, Vicente Gonzalez and Kurt Schrader voted against the ban.
 
Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick and Chris Jacobs were YES votes, per @kristin__wilson

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 29, 2022

At her weekly press conference before the vote, Speaker Pelosi spoke about the assault weapons ban:

We had – I’m excited today because, for a long time now, I have wanted to reinstate the assault weapon ban. You weren’t here, maybe you weren’t even born, when we did this in the 90s. It was hard, but it happened. And it saved lives. And I’m looking forward to our having a good – the passage of it this afternoon. 

…..

I’m going to show a presentation of what some totally irresponsible people are putting out there about little children, toddlers, learning how to use an assault weapon, smaller assault weapons but a gun like mommy and daddy, smaller assault weapons but getting their muscles ready to be able to use it. Is that sick? Anyway, we’re hopeful on our vote on the assault weapon ban and the outcry for it in the country. 

There is majority support for the assault weapons ban among the American people, but the bill does not have 60 votes of support to clear the Republican filibuster in the Senate. The House passage is important because it demonstrates to the American people that Democrats can and will deliver for them, while also setting the stage for this same bill to pass next year if Democrats keep the House and pick up another seat or two in the Senate to kill the filibuster.

The contrast between the two parties is stark. Republicans celebrate denying healthcare to veterans, while Democrats work to save Americans from mass shootings.