Tag Archives: assault weapons ban

As Congress ponders an assault-weapons ban and universal background checks, local authorities across the country are using gun “buyback” programs to try to decrease the numbers of guns in their communities. And like just about everything else in the gun control debate, the buybacks are becoming a bone of contention between proponents of stricter controls and those who resist them.   Thousands of Weapons Collected New Jersey has held several buybacks, with the latest, held the last weekend in January in …

Following the executive branch’s announcement of its gun control recommendations earlier in the month, on Jan. 30 the Senate Judiciary Committee took up the problem of gun violence in the United States. At the hearing, which lasted about four hours, proponents of gun control squared off against the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment advocates.   Calls for Controls Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived being shot in the head in 2011 by a mentally disturbed man, and …

Democratic members of Congress announced on Thursday that they will introduce a new bill that would impose a federal ban on assault weapons, following a wave of mass shootings in recent years including the murder of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The bill is more expansive than the federal assault weapon ban that was in place from 1994 until 2004. The proposed legislation names 158 specific types of military-style guns that would be outlawed for civilians. Magazines that …

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Jan. 9 State of the State speech adds to a growing chorus for tighter gun control laws that gun rights groups promise to resist.  As expected, Cuomo proposed a stricter assault weapon law and an outright ban on high-capacity magazines, saying he wanted to strengthen what are already some of the toughest gun laws in the country.    Shoot for the Stars At the same event, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy urged the U.S. Congress to tighten …