The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Wednesday to ban assault weapons, but it’s unclear whether the legislation has enough support to pass a vote. Democratic Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, have said they will not support the bill, while Republican Reps. Chris Jacobs, R-N.Y., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., have said they are open to voting for the ban, according to The Hill. House Democrats have a margin of four votes. The 2021 assault weapons ban advanced on a 25-18 vote, but no date has been set for a House floor vote. “As we’ve learned all too well in recent years, assault weapons — especially when combined with high-capacity magazines — are the weapon of choice for mass shootings,” committee chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said during the bill’s markup. . “These military-style weapons are designed to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time. Quite simply, there is no place for them on our streets.” DAVID HOGG INTERRUPTS HEARING ON BAN OF ASSAULT WEAPONS Assault rifles hang on display inside a gun store in Dallas, Texas September 13, 2004. (REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell JM) Ranking Member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued the bill would take away the rights of gun owners. “Democrats know this legislation will not reduce violent crime or reduce the likelihood of mass shootings, but they are obsessed with attacking the Second Amendment freedoms of law-abiding Americans,” he said. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said, “They’re coming for your guns.” GOV. PRITZKER OVERHAULS ILLINOIS GUN REGULATIONS AFTER Highland Park Massacre, CRITICS WARN OF VIOLATION OF 2ND AMENDMENT AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at the Guntoberfest gun show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, October 6, 2017. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo) The bill would make it a crime to “import, sell, manufacture, transport or possess a semi-automatic assault weapon (SAW) or high-capacity ammunition feeding device,” according to the bill’s summary. A few exceptions will be made. It shall not include any “firearm that is (1) manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide; (2) permanently inoperative; (3) antique; or (4) rifle or shotgun specifically identified by make and model.” “ The bill was first introduced in March last year. Speaker Jerry Nadler, DN.Y., looks on during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, July 14, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) The legislation comes on the heels of the most sweeping gun control bill passed in the Senate in 30 years following a spate of mass shootings, including one at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 students and two teachers dead. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have also called for a ban on assault weapons. “Assault weapons must be banned,” Biden said last week at the White House while celebrating the signing of bipartisan gun legislation. “They were banned. I led the fight in 1994. And then under pressure from the NRA and gun manufacturers and others, that ban was lifted in 2004. In those 10 years that it was law, mass shootings went down.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Former President Bill Clinton signed an assault weapons ban in 1994 that expired in 2004.
