Democrats in both chambers of Congress have announced a plan to outlaw about every common semi-automatic firearm with a detachable magazine.
Introduced by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) in the Senate and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) in the House, the proposed new Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion, or GOSAFE, Act is sweeping in scope.
Previous "assault weapon bans" prohibit specific models by name and then include a more catch-all by targeting firearms with similar features. However, the GOSAFE Act targets pistols, rifles, and shotguns that use any spent propellant gases to cycle the action during the reload process. 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.
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.
Henrich this week, told an eager crowd of anti-gun advocates in his home state that his bill "does a really good job at targeting the underlying mechanical principles that make some firearms so much more dangerous, while still protecting Americans’ right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes."
The measure is endorsed from the start by gun control orgs of all stripes, including March For Our Lives, Brady, Sandy Hook Promise, Everytown, and Giffords.
The measure is filed in the Senate as S.1370 with 13 co-sponsors, all Dems or Independents who caucus with them. The House version is H.R.2790, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary with 26 partisan co-sponsors.
Of note, McBath, who backed a similar bill in the last Congress, waited until she paused her Georgia governor campaign to come out swinging behind GOSAFE in the current Congress.
While the GOP narrowly controls Congress, Republicans have easily crossed the aisle in recent years to pass controversial gun control measures, so don't write this one off entirely.
Banner image: Zastava ZPAP M85 5.56 NATO AK pistol with a Midwest Industries side-folding stabilizing brace and a Vortex Crossfire red dot. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
