The AR-15 is the Weapon of Choice for Mass Shooters. It’s Time to Reinstate the Bipartisan Congressional Assault Weapons Ban.

Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action Volunteers Holding Mothers Day Events This Weekend Calling for Reinstating Assault Weapons Ban

New Everytown Polling Shows 65% of Americans Support Assault Weapons Ban

A week ago Saturday, eight people were shot and killed, and at least seven others were shot and wounded, at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas by a shooter armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon. This was just the most recent example of the way assault weapons and AR-15 style weapons in particular have been the weapon of choice for mass shooters. AR-15 style weapons were used to perpetrate the recent mass shootings in Nashville and Louisville, as well as mass shootings last year in Buffalo and Uvalde. 

This Saturday, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers will hold nearly 200 events across the country calling on Congress to reinstate the bipartisan Congressional assault weapons ban. To find an event happening near you, click here. 

“Parents are waking up everyday and asking themselves if their child is next, as weapons of war flood our schools, malls and more,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We know the vast majority of Americans want Congress to reinstate the bipartisan assault weapons ban, and we’re demanding action now.”

“Mass shootings are not acts of nature; they are preventable tragedies caused by lawmakers who continue to allow weapons of war onto our streets,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “With Mother’s Day this Sunday and so many mothers having to mark it having lost a child to gun violence, our grassroots army is demanding Congress stand with the majority of Americans and for public safety by reinstating the bipartisan assault weapons ban. 

Additionally, Everytown for Gun Safety released new polling today conducted by Blue Rose Research, confirming that the vast majority (65%) of Americans support an assault weapons ban, including 58% of independents. The survey includes oversamples of voters Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. The poll also found that 72% of Americans — and 52% of Trump voters —  agree that our country should take action on assault weapons, showing that inaction is not an option. The full polling memo is available here.

A recent Washington Post series detailed how AR-15 style weapons are dangerously marketed by gun makers, the unique destructive power these weapons of war hold, the threat to law enforcement that the proliferation of these guns poses, and how AR-15s have become the preferred weapon for extremist organizations. 

Congress passed an assault weapons ban in 1994 on a bipartisan basis — with more than 50 Republicans in Congress voting in support— but the gun lobby prevented it from being renewed in 2004. Mass shooting fatalities are 70% more likely without the assault weapons ban in place. Additionally, a 2021 study found that the federal prohibition on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines was associated with a significant decrease in public mass shootings and related casualties, preventing at least 11 public mass shootings during the 10 years it was in effect.