Westerman Statement on Assault Weapon Ban

WASHINGTON - In reaction to the U.S. House of Representative's passage of the Assault Weapons Ban, Congressman Bruce Westerman released the following statement:

"This bill has an irresponsibly broad definition of ‘semiautomatic assault weapon’ that would instantly outlaw the further sale of guns currently held by nearly 25 million Americans, while doing nothing to address the root causes of violence," said Congressman Westerman. "The previous attempt to ban assault weapons in 1994 had virtually no effect on violent crime. Sadly, people intent on evil will perform evil with whatever weapons are available to them; legal or illegal. This ban infringes on law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights. I look forward to the day Democrats want to work together to address the true causes of violent crime instead of scoring empty political points with leftist lobbyists.”