Gun-related deaths are increasing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December that the nearly 40,000 people who died from firearms injuries[1] in the United States in 2017 was more than any other year since at least 1968. Nearly two-thirds of those deaths were suicides. The rate of gun deaths also increased to 12 deaths for every 100,000 people, the highest since the mid-1990s.
Some states like California and Connecticut have near-total bans [2]on assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center. Assault weapons, generally thought to be more lethal, have been used in deadly mass shootings like those in Parkland, Las Vegas, Newtown and San Bernardino, Calif.
A New York Times analysis published in February[3] found that 173 people have been killed since 2007 in mass shootings involving AR-15s. Yet they don’t make up a large chunk of gun violence in America, Mr. Heyne said.
Ms. Hopkins said that existing laws already ban the sale of handguns to those under 21, and that the age change for semiautomatic assault rifles seeks to make the law consistent for the different type of firearms.
Gun control figured heavily in the 2018 election, as gun control groups outspent the N.R.A. Congress has generally failed to pass any meaningful legislation. A federal ban on the manufacture of certain “assault weapons” took effect in 1994. It expired in 2004.
No attempts to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban have been successful. In December, the Trump administration banned bump stocks[4], attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in sustained, rapid bursts.
Gun rights organizations have succeeded in blocking other proposals at the federal level. And they are vowing to fight the states as well.
