Democratic Senator Says an AR-15 Ban Won’t Pass Congress

Monica Sanchez | February 28, 2018
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Amid calls for a ban on "assault weapons," one Democratic senator says that a bill banning the sale of AR-15s, the semi-automatic weapon reportedly used in the Florida school shooting, would not pass Congress.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told MSNBC Wednesday morning that there would not be enough votes to pass such a bill.

"This is a difficult one. There is not enough votes to pass that, to repeal that,” he said.

When asked whether he would vote for an AR-15 ban, Manchin replied, “I wouldn’t take their gun away.”

He said that none of his friends that own the gun right now have committed a crime with it. 

House Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday to ban "assault weapons" and included the AR-15 in the list of the many firearms that would be prohibited under the bill, MRCTV reports.   

Gun control activists are pushing for an assault weapons ban to include the AR-15 style rifle, but gun advocates insist that AR-15s are not assault weapons nor assault rifles because the AR-15 is not fully automatic and civilian AR-15s do not have select firearms capabilities, or the capability to switch between semi-automatic and fully automatic.

“Civilians can only buy a semi-automatic version of the weapon, which fires a single round with each pull of the trigger,” reports The Hill.

Instead of a ban, President Trump has suggested raising the age limit to 21 for purchases of certain firearms including AR-15s, which the NRA has said it cannot support.

(Cover Photo: Pexels)

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