The House of Representatives on July 29 passed legislation that would ban so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and dubbed the “Assault Weapons Ban Act,” passed in a mostly party-line 217–213 vote.
Though the definition of “assault weapon” has long been contested, the bill defines such weapons as “semiautomatic assault weapon[s] or large capacity ammunition feeding device[s]” and makes the importation, manufacturing, transferring, or possession of such items a crime.
This would also include some semiautomatic handguns.
The bill exempts firearms that require a manual action between rounds to prepare the gun to fire again, including things like bolt-, pump-, lever-, or slide-action mechanisms….