Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and other Democrats on Wednesday to reintroduce an assault weapons ban, a proposal to prohibit the purchase and possession of high-powered semiautomatic firearms, such as the popular AR-15 rifle.
The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law because Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, but Democrats see it as an important marker in the gun control debate in Washington, which has seen little movement since the 1994 assault weapons ban expired more than 20 years ago.
Schiff and his Democratic colleagues will appear with advocates from several gun-control groups, including Brady, Giffords and Newtown Action Alliance to announce the legislation at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) will join the event.
The Democratic senators noted that mass shootings in the United States declined by 37 percent and produced fewer fatalities per event when the assault weapons ban was in effect from 1994 to 2004.
A November Gallup poll showed that 52 percent of Americans said they favor a ban on assault weapons, though higher percentages of Americans supported the idea in the past.
Overall, 56 percent of Americans think gun control laws should be more strict, according to the Gallup survey from last year.
Schiff, a first-term senator, is taking over as a lead sponsor of the assault weapons ban from former Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who made it one of her signature issues during her long Senate career.
Feinstein died in September 2023, and Schiff was elected to her seat last year.
Updated at 12:55 p.m. EDT
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