[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S55]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
        Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. 
        Casey, Mr. Coons, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Fetterman, 
        Mrs. Gillibrand, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. 
        Kaine, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Markey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. 
        Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Reed, Ms. 
        Rosen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. 
        Smith, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warner, Ms. Warren, 
        Mr. Welch, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 25. A bill to regulate assault weapons, to ensure that the right 
to keep and bear arms is not unlimited, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
   Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I rise to introduce two 
pieces of legislation, the Assault Weapons Ban and the Age 21 Act.
  Assault weapons are weapons of war and they have no place on our 
streets. We have successfully banned assault weapons in the past, and 
it is long past time that we do it again.
  Last year, our Nation suffered 648 mass shootings according to data 
from the Gun Violence Archive. That is nearly two mass shootings every 
day. An analysis by the Rockefeller Institute of Government found that 
mass shootings involving assault weapons resulted in an average of 2.3 
more deaths and 4.4 more injuries than mass shootings that did not 
involve assault weapons.
  Congress must do more to protect people from these deadly weapons.
  The good news is, we have a solution that has been proven effective 
in the past: the Assault Weapons Ban.
  I introduced the original Assault Weapons Ban that was signed into 
law in 1994. In the 10 years that the Assault Weapons Ban was in place, 
our country saw a 37-percent decline in gun massacres. In the decade 
after the Assault Weapons Ban expired, gun massacres shot back up by a 
stunning 183 percent.
  There is no doubt that this bill would save lives. While the Assault 
Weapons Ban was in effect, gun massacres were down. After it expired, 
gun massacres rose.
  We must once again pass the Assault Weapons Ban. I am pleased that so 
many of my Democratic colleagues have agreed to cosponsor this bill.
  At the very least, Congress needs to take the important step of 
preventing individuals under the age of 21 from purchasing assault 
weapons. The Age 21 Act, which I am reintroducing today, would do just 
that.
  Under current law, a firearms licensee may not sell or deliver a 
handgun to a buyer under the age of 21. However, this commonsense 
protection does not apply to assault weapon purchases. This loophole 
costs lives.
  The Giffords Law Center, using FBI and census data, calculated that 
while 18- to 20-year-olds make up just 4 percent of the U.S. 
population, they commit 17 percent of all homicides.
  So it makes sense that the law restricts individuals under the age of 
21 from purchasing a handgun. But it does not make sense that this 
restriction does not extend to assault weapons as well. In the last 2 
years, the shooter in three of the five deadliest mass shootings in the 
United States was a man under the age of 21.
  If the Age 21 Act had been law last year, it could have stopped the 
18-year-old who killed 10 people in Buffalo, NY, and the 18-year-old 
who killed 21 people in Uvalde, TX. These shooters used assault-style 
weapons that were legally purchased shortly after their 18th birthdays.
  I thank the Senators who have stood with me in support of the Assault 
Weapons Ban and the Age 21 Act. I urge the rest of our colleagues to 
join us.
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