Everytown for Gun Safety Applauds Introduction of the GOSAFE Act

WASHINGTON – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund released the following statements applauding Senator Martin Heinrich for introducing the GOSAFE Act, which would regulate gas-operated semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines:

“As weapons of war have become commonplace in America, so has the unfathomable carnage they wreak on our communities,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We applaud Senator Heinrich for introducing innovative legislation that would regulate assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which are capable of creating devastating destruction in an instant. We urge Senator Heinrich’s colleagues to pass this bill before yet another community is forever scarred by someone filled with hate and armed with an AR-15.”

“America’s gun violence epidemic is a public health crisis that claims the lives of 120 Americans and wounds over 200 more every day. Access to assault weapons only makes this crisis more lethal,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, the executive director of Moms Demand Action. “But we don’t need to accept the deadly consequences of permitting weapons of war on our streets as an unalterable reality. I’m grateful that Senator Heinrich is championing one of the most commonsense, popular, and effective solutions to this nation’s preventable gun violence crisis, and I urge Congress to recognize that passing legislation to regulate assault weapons is a matter of life or death.”

More About the GOSAFE Act:

• GOSAFE takes a novel approach to preventing far-too-common mass tragedies by prohibiting the sale, transfer, and receipt of gas-operated semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity magazines that hold 10 or more rounds of ammunition.

• The term “gas-operated” refers to firearm operating systems in which the gas generated from firing one round is used to load subsequent rounds into the chamber — all of which happens in milliseconds.
  • These are the types of rifles that, especially when paired with large-capacity magazines, allow mass shooters to unleash exceptionally destructive, rapid-fire barrages on unsuspecting victims in seconds.

• The GOSAFE Act exempts most pistols and, unlike traditional state-level assault weapons bans and the former federal ban, semi-automatic shotguns, narrowing its reach.
  • Gun makers can choose to modify current semi-automatic models to make them safer — and therefore legal under the GOSAFE Act.