NC Republican Congressmen all vote No on narrowly passed Assault Weapon Ban of 2022

The bill is not expected to survive in the Senate

On Friday, July 29, the U.S. House narrowly passed a bill banning "assault weapons" which would ban some of the most common firearms sold nationwide.

Democrats in the gallery cheered as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi read the vote count of 217 in favor and 213 opposed. 

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NEW - U.S. House passes "assault weapons" ban.

​"​Democrats are on the House floor cheering about taking away your Constitutional rights.​ ​Disgraceful," ​North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop (R-09) tweeted following the vote.​

​Bishop was vocal on the House floor prior to the vote, stating in part that the bill "openly defies the Supreme Court's explicit declaration of the Constitutional Rights of the American People."  Watch Bishop's full remarks:

Rep. Dan Bishop @RepDanBishop

Democrats' gun grabbing bill will ban weapons in common use, in open defiance of SCOTUS rulings - an act never done before in American history. Chairman Nadler admitted this is the point of the Dems' bill. They know it's unconstitutional. They don't care.

​Bishop had previously published footage from a July 20 confrontation about the bill, tweeting "Jerry Nadler says the quiet part out loud: the purpose of this bill is to BAN weapons that are in common use. This flies in the face of the Constitution, and Dems aren't honest enough to admit that they won't stop here."​

​Two Republicans voted with Democrats; Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Chris Jacobs (R-NY).​ ​

Five Democrats voted no on the measure; Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX); Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)., and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI). 

FOX News reports that at least 18 Democrats considered vulnerable in the upcoming midterm elections voted yes on the bill. 

Every single North Carolina Republican representative voted no.

Meanwhile, their Democratic counterparts (Adams, Butterfield, Manning, Price, and Ross) all voted in favor of the bill. ​

The "Assault Weapons Ban of 2022" (H.R. 1808) would make it illegal to "knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon (SAW) or large capacity ammunition feeding device (LCAFD)," and would "ban the sale, import, manufacture or transfer of certain semi-automatic weapons." 

Weapons already owned by an individual are not subject to the bill.

The White House issued a statement made by President Biden on the House’s passage of the bill. Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain also tweeted about his own involvement and linked to the statement:

Ronald Klain @WHCOS

I was on then-Senator Biden's staff when the Senate first passed the Assault Weapon ban in the 1990s. This is a fight we will never stop fighting. Great progress in the House today:

whitehouse.govStatement from President Biden on House Passage of Assault Weapons Ban | The White HouseWhen I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the first significant piece of gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years – I said that there was

“When guns are the number one killer of children in America, when more children die from guns than active-duty police and active-duty military combined, we have to act," Biden said in the statement. 

The president's statement appears to rely on the recent claim by the Centers for Disease Control based on mortality data from 2020 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that firearms are now the number one cause of death for children, moving motor vehicle deaths to number two. According to the CDC, in 2020 there were 4,368 deaths for those aged 19 and under due to firearms, and the vast majority were homicides and suicides.

“Today, House Democrats acted by unifying to pass an assault weapons ban to keep weapons of war off our streets, save lives in this country, and reduce crime in our communities," Biden's statement reads in part.”

Biden went on to say that ​the "majority of the American people agree with this common sense action. The Senate should move quickly to get this bill to my desk, and I will not stop fighting until it does.​"​​

The bill will head to the Senate where the consensus, despite Biden's attempt to pressure lawmakers,​ seems to be that the measure is dead on arrival.​​

Firearms and Second Amendment advocates were swift to respond to the passage of the bill.

Jason Ouimet, the executive director for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, issued a statement blasting the passage of the bill on the heels of the Supreme Court’s NYSRPA v. Bruen ruling:

On the same day as the House vote, Gun Owners of America’s “No Compromise Alliance” sent a letter to Senate leaders urging them to reject the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022 (H.R. 1808) and demanding the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (H.R. 2814).

“GOA and our industry partners believe wholeheartedly in the preservation of liberty, whether it be defending commonly-owned firearms or ensuring protections from frivolous litigation, we stand together against the unconstitutional actions of Congress,” Kaily Nieman, Gun Owners of America’s Director of Development, said in a statement. “We understand firsthand the attack on our Second Amendment and we are honored to have strong partners on the frontlines of this fight.”