{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-co-introduces-assault-weapons-ban-bill-house", "Rep. Cleaver Co-Introduces Assault Weapons Ban Bill in the House of Representatives", "2023-02-09", "2023", "2023-02", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Emanuel Cleaver", "C001061", "cleaver.house.gov", "cleaver", "https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 With the conclusion of National Gun Violence Survivors Week, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) today announced he has joined House Democrats in co-introducing H.R. 698, the Assault Weapons Ban Act, to protect communities throughout Missouri\u2019s Fifth Congressional District from mass shootings and cut down on gun violence across the nation. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and co-sponsored by 199 Democratic members of the House of Representatives, would ban the sale, import, manufacture, or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons.\n\n\u201cMass shootings have devastated far too many communities for far too long\u2014and it\u2019s time that Congress listened to the will of the American people and removed weapons of war from our streets. In the first month of 2023 alone, the U.S. saw more than 50 mass shootings, with over 60 killed and hundreds wounded. And the weapon of choice in the vast majority of these shootings is an assault weapon,\u201d said Congressman Cleaver. \u201cAs Gun Violence Survivors Week comes to a close, we must not only recognize those tragically impacted by gun violence, but we must pledge to honor these survivors and the lives lost by passing legislation to ban assault rifles and make our communities safer. Legislation like this was passed before with remarkable results. We can and must find the courage to do it again.\u201d\n\nCongressman Cleaver has been a strong supporter of commonsense gun safety reform during his time in Congress. With the 118th Congress barely one month underway, Rep. Cleaver has already co-sponsored the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act, Keep Americans Safe Act, Ethan\u2019s Law, and other gun safety legislation. During the 117th Congress, Rep. Cleaver joined Democrats in the House of Representatives to help pass the Assault Weapons Ban Act to protect Missouri communities from mass shootings that have devastated communities like Sandy Hook, Uvalde, Las Vegas, El Paso, Parkland, Orlando, and countless others. Unfortunately, the bill was blocked from passage in the U.S. Senate by Senate Republicans.\n\n\u201cFor years now, we\u2019ve seen state legislatures controlled by the MAGA GOP undermine gun safety reforms with tragic results. Nowhere else in the western world is there a gun violence epidemic like the one we have in America\u2014because nowhere else makes it as easy to access weapons of war,\u201d said Congressman Cleaver. \u201cWe cannot sit idly by as our communities continue to be devastated by gun violence.\u201d\n\nOfficial text of the Assault Weapons Ban Act is available here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:18:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cleaver.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-cleaver-co-introduces-assault-weapons-ban-bill-house"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 5.618500988930464, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}