Assault Weapons Ban — S.25 / H.R.698
Firearm Equipment Safety
Policies addressing assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines aim to reduce the severity and lethality of firearm injuries — particularly in the mass-casualty events that traumatize entire communities.
60–70%
of Americans support legislation limiting access to assault weapons
70%
fewer mass-shooting deaths during the 1994–2004 federal prohibition
86%
of fatalities in 44 mass shootings (1981–2017) involved assault weapons
A policy with a track record
Previous legislation prohibited assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for ten years, from 1994 to 2004. During that period, 70 percent fewer people died in mass-shooting events compared with the years without federal legislation between 1981 and 2017. Nearly every year since the prohibition expired, gun massacres and deaths from mass shootings have increased.
Why limit assault weapons and high-capacity magazines?
Semiautomatic weapons with large-capacity magazines represent a growing proportion of crime guns. Comparing three major U.S. cities between 2003–2007 and 2008–2014, their use as crime guns increased 48–112%. In the decade after the prior federal law expired, there was a 183% increase in gun massacres and a 239% increase in deaths from gun massacres.
Assault weapons accounted for 86% of fatalities in the 44 mass-shooting incidents that occurred between 1981 and 2017. A linear regression analysis found 9 fewer mass-shooting deaths per 10,000 firearm homicides per year during the 1994–2004 prohibition; had it remained in place, an estimated 314 of 448 mass-shooting deaths would have been prevented. During the prohibition, gun massacres (six or more people shot and killed) fell by 37%.
See the full evidence base and references behind our priorities.
View the research