NPR

Biden Wants New Ban On Assault-Style Weapons. What Lessons Were Learned From The '90s?

Advocates face steep odds getting a new ban through Congress. If they can succeed, they hope to avoid a repeat of past mistakes that left the original law open to loopholes.
President Biden looks on after speaking during an event about gun violence prevention in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 8.

When an assailant stormed a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., last month and fatally shot 10 people, the suspected weapon of choice — a Ruger AR-556 pistol — captured immediate attention. Not for what it technically was — a pistol — but for what it more closely resembled — an assault-style rifle.

The legality and lethality of semi-automatic "assault-style weapons" has been a topic of debate before. But in the wake of the mass shooting in Boulder, calls are once again growing for a federal ban on these guns, including from President Biden. While unveiling a series of around gun violence prevention at the White House on Thursday, the president said the nation should reinstate a version of the federal assault weapons ban he helped to pass as a senator in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR5 min readIndustries
China Makes Cheap Electric Vehicles. Why Can't American Shoppers Buy Them?
American drivers want cheap EVs. Chinese automakers are building them. But you can't buy them in the U.S., thanks to tariffs in the name of U.S. jobs and national security. Two car shoppers weigh in.
NPR5 min readWorld
When Rockets Fall, Some Israeli Citizens Have Nowhere To Hide
While most buildings in Israel are required to have bomb shelters, a zoning catch-22 has left Bedouin villagers unprotected.
NPR3 min read
Floods In Southern Brazil Kill At Least 75 People Over 7 Days
Massive floods in Brazil's southern Rio Grande do Sul state have killed at least 75 people over the last seven days, and another 103 were reported missing, local authorities said Sunday.

Related Books & Audiobooks