A Capitol Hill lawmaker installed via a multi-million dollar push from Bloomberg gun control groups delivered this week one of the most sweeping gun bans proposed in U.S. history.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) on Monday announced the House version of the controversial new Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion, or GOSAFE, Act. While past "assault weapon bans" use a combination of naming specific models – such as AR-15s – and their cosmetic features to target semi-automatic firearms, the GOSAFE Act targets pistols, rifles, and shotguns that use any sort of spent propellant gases to cycle the action during the reload process.
Introduced as H.R.8600, the bill includes exemptions for firearms chambered in .22 rimfire or less, as well as shotguns and rifles with a "permanently fixed magazine of 10 rounds or less" and handguns "with a permanently fixed magazine of 15 rounds or less," most other guns are on the cutting block. The language includes specific bans on everything else that uses a short or long-stroke gas piston, direct impingement action, blowback action, or recoil-operated system, and accepts some sort of detachable magazine.
The result is that the only guns not affected would be autoloaders with low-capacity fixed magazines, revolvers, single/double shot firearms, and those with a manual bolt, lever, or pump action.
McBath, who spent five years as Faith and Outreach Leader for Moms Demand Action, and as a leader of Everytown’s Survivor Network, came to Congress in 2018 to represent Georgia's 6th Congressional district after a $4 million push from the Bloomberg groups. Successive election cycles saw Everytown grow this investment to more than $9 million to keep McBath in her seat.
While Everytown steered clear of gun ban talk a decade ago when the Bloomberg-funded renaming of Mayors Against Illegal Guns was announced, preferring at the time to have the stated goals of "background checks, domestic violence, suicide prevention and safe storage of guns," McBath's proposed ban drew instant and enthusiastic acclaim from the organization's leader on Monday.
"As weapons of war have become commonplace in America, so has the unfathomable carnage they wreak on our communities,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown. "We applaud Representative McBath for introducing innovative legislation that would regulate assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which are capable of creating devastating destruction in an instant."
Firearms industry estimates in 2022 concluded that there were over 24 million assorted "black rifles" in circulation, while more recent data suggests over 700 million 10+ round capacity magazines are also in the hands of Americans, pointing towards common use of such popular items.
The GOSAFE Act has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The body currently has a razor-thin 218-213 Republican majority. The bill is the companion to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)'s S.3369.
Banner image: An FN SCAR light (16S) which would fall under GOSAFE Act regulation along with just about every other semi-auto firearm ever made. (Photo: Guns.com)
