Legislative Background on Gun Violence Prevention
Recent Action by Congress on Strengthening Firearm Regulation
A series of mass shootings in Tucson, Arizona; Aurora, Colorado; and the Oak Park suburb of Milwaukee, prompted some Members of the previous, 112th Congress to reconsider proposals to reinstate a 1994 ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines that expired in 2004. But it wasn’t until the December 14, 2012, massacre of 20 children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, that any real momentum ensued for new Federal legislation to address gun violence. President Obama’s Proposals. Shortly after the Newtown shooting, President Barack Obama announced the formation of a Gun Violence Task Force led by Vice President…
