Washington, DC – Ahead of the start of National Gun Violence Survivors’ Week, Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01), Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced the Keep Americans Safe Act, legislation that would ban the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of high-capacity gun magazines that hold more than fifteen rounds.

“By keeping high-capacity magazines out of our neighborhoods, the Keep Americans Safe Act would protect the families, law enforcement, and community members across District One who know all too well the dangers of gun violence,” said Rep. Titus. “Nevadans and all Americans deserve to be free from the scourge of mass shootings plaguing our country. I pledge to continue working with my colleagues in Congress to pass commonsense legislation that will keep them safe.”

“No one in this country needs a magazine that holds 60 or 100 rounds,” said Rep. DeGette. “These magazines aren’t for hunting, they were designed for war. They allow a shooter to cause maximum harm in the shortest amount of time; and we need to get them off our streets now. One of the most effective things we can do to help protect our communities is banning these magazines immediately. While we know that this legislation, alone, will not prevent all future mass shootings from occurring, it will help make them less deadly.”

“On July 4th at the crowded Highland Park Independence Day Parade, a deranged gunman used a semiautomatic rifle with high-capacity magazines to fire 83 rounds in under one minute—murdering 7 people, wounding more than 40 others, and traumatizing an entire community,” said Rep. Schneider. “High-capacity magazines are designed to kill en masse–allowing a shooter to fire off dozens of bullets without having to reload. These weapons of war are all too often used in mass shootings across the country and are responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people. That's why I helped reintroduce the Keep Americans Safe Act to ban high-capacity magazines, which would go a long way in reducing the lethality of mass shootings like the one in Highland Park and saving precious lives.”

The Keep Americans Safe Act would:

• Prohibit the importation, sale, possession, or transfer of high or large-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than fifteen rounds; providing limited exceptions for devices possessed before enactment and for certain current and former law enforcement.
• Require devices manufactured after enactment to have visible serial numbers and labeling indicating date of manufacture to assist law enforcement in identifying restricted magazines.
• Authorize high-capacity magazine buyback programs through federal justice funding.
• Authorize agencies like FBI and ATF to seize and destroy illegally possessed firearms with high-capacity magazines.

Background:

Rep. Titus introduced the Keep Americans Safe Act with Reps. DeGette & Schneider in October 2021, and in October 2022 after Rep. Ted Deutch departed Congress. In 2022, the United States experienced 647 mass shootings, defined by four or more victims according to the Gun Violence Archive. From this year’s attacks on Colorado’s LGBTQ community to California’s AAPI communities, the scourge of gun violence has reached every corner of the United States and last year alone took 44,000 lives.

By one estimate, between 2009 and 2020, high-capacity magazines led to five times as many victims in mass shootings, and from 2009 to 2018 more than half of all mass shootings involved guns with high-capacity magazines.

The Keep Americans Safe Act is supported by the following organizations:

• Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• Sandy Hook Promise
• March for Our Lives
• Giffords
• Everytown
• Center for American Progress

For more information on this legislation, click here.

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