Booker Joins Dem Senators in Introducing Assault Weapons Ban

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) along with more than a dozen of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate today introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, a bill to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The bill introduction comes a day before Booker will deliver keynote remarks at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s annual Bear Awards, held in honor of former White House Press Secretary James “Bear” Brady.

“There is absolutely no reason military-style weapons intended for the battlefield should be allowed in our communities — and there are many reasons they must not be,” Senator Booker said. “Our bill will help prevent these types of firearms from being used to inflict ever more harm. Mass shootings are becoming more and more commonplace in America, and anyone who tells you that there’s nothing we can do is disregarding common sense solutions upon which we all should agree.”

The bill contains the following key provisions:

·         Bans the sale, manufacture, transfer, and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name. Owners can keep existing weapons. 

·         Bans any assault weapon that accepts a detachable ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics, including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock. Owners can keep existing weapons.

·         Bans magazines and other ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to reload. Owners can keep existing magazines.

Exemptions to bill

·         The bill exempts by name more than 2,200 guns for hunting, household defense or recreational purposes. This list will be updated to include additional weapons.

·         The bill includes a grandfather clause that exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment.

Other provisions:

·         Requires a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.

·         Requires that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device like a trigger lock.

·         Prohibits the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

·         Bans bump-fire stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at fully automatic rates.

The additional Democratic sponsors of the bill are: Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT.), Chris Murphy (D-CT.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-IL.), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-DE.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ben Cardin (D-MD.), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-MN.), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA.), Kamala Harris (D-CA.), Chris Van Hollen (D-MdD) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL.).