For release: Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Washington, DC–Following Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) introduction today of a landmark bill to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, Violence Policy Center Legislative Director Kristen Rand issued the following statement:
“Military-bred semiautomatic assault weapons and ultra-high capacity ammunition magazines now define the U.S. civilian gun market: a lethality-focused arms bazaar where virtually anyone with a credit card and a grudge can easily acquire the firepower necessary to carry out mass shootings. In just the past year and a half we have seen the two worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history–the Pulse nightclub in Orlando Florida and the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both were perpetrated with assault weapons equipped with high-capacity ammunition magazines. In addition, the Las Vegas shooter used a ‘bump stock’ device to accelerate the rate of fire of his semiautomatic assault weapons. Senator Feinstein’s bill is crucial to ratcheting down the firepower in civilian hands to help make all of us safer in our schools, movie theaters, houses of worship, restaurants, and every other public space vulnerable to such attacks.”
The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
