Tag Archives: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.

Did the assault weapons ban of 1994 bring down mass shootings? Here’s what the data tells us

The Clinton-era ban on assault weapons ushered in a period of fewer mass shooting deaths.
AP Photo/Dennis Cook

Michael J. Klein, New York University

A spate of high-profile mass shootings in the U.S. has sparked calls for Congress to look at imposing a ban on so-called assault weapons – covering the types of guns used in both the recent Buffalo grocery attack and that on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Such a prohibition has been in place before. As President Joe Biden noted in his June 2, 2022, speech addressing gun violence, almost three decades ago bipartisan support in Congress helped push through a federal assault weapons ban in 1994, as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Continue reading

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