Weeks Before School Starts, Historic Assault Weapons Ban is a Critically Needed Step Forward

Despite an uphill battle in the Senate, youth activists are celebrating H.R.1808. The work continues in the states to pass state-level limits and elect real leaders in the Senate who will pass federal gun safety laws

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House passed H.R.1808, the first time an assault weapons ban has passed the house in some thirty years. This bill was largely unthinkable just a few short years ago and demonstrates the power of a youth-led gun violence prevention movement, coming on the heels of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that we championed. March For Our Lives members will mobilize in the next few weeks to ensure the Senate prioritizes this when they return from recess. Despite a few House members nearly derailing this key piece of legislation with their cynical attempts to ram through unrelated bills opposed by many in the gun violence prevention space, we are pleased to see the bill pass the House.

Weeks ago, tens of thousands of young people and our allies took to the streets in hundreds of communities across America to demand action in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde and say emphatically: We will not be hunted down in our communities. Since then, a flurry of action at the state level and the first gun safety bill at the federal level in a generation is ushering in a new era of bold action. March For Our Lives is immensely grateful to House leaders and our partners in congress who worked tirelessly to bring this bill to a floor vote and pass it.

“Just a few years ago this would have been unthinkable. Even when I spoke at the first March For Our Lives, an assault weapons ban in the House seemed out of reach,” said Trevon Bosley, a March For Our Lives’ board member. “This bill won’t save lives yet, but it does send a powerful message to the millions of young people who are growing up fighting for our lives: change is possible.”

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