NRA Warns That Chuck Schumer’s New Bill Is an ‘Attack on the Constitution Itself’

The National Rifle Association is sounding the alarm about another attack on the Second Amendment.

Speaking to Fox News, an NRA spokesman said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s latest proposal to ban so-called assault weapons is an attempt by the New York Democrat to “destroy our self-defense and Second Amendment rights.”

“Sen. Chuck Schumer launched a failed attack on the Constitution itself, targeting firearms legally owned and used by millions of Americans,” Randy Kozuch, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said Wednesday.

“This is yet another attempt by gun control extremists to erode and eventually destroy our self-defense and Second Amendment rights,” he continued.

Kozuch’s comments were a response to Schumer’s pledge to put forward legislation banning “assault weapons.”

“This week, I will put the Assault Weapons Ban on the Senate floor,” Schumer wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.

“After I led the passage of the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban 30 years ago, America saw a decrease in mass shootings and gun deaths,” the senator said.

“We must stand with the American people and against the gun lobby,” he added.

This week, I will put the Assault Weapons Ban on the Senate floor.

After I led the passage of the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban 30 years ago, America saw a decrease in mass shootings and gun deaths.

We must stand with the American people and against the gun lobby.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 5, 2023

Schumer’s proposal comes after the U.S. set a record for the most deadly mass shootings in a calendar year, according to the U.K.’s Guardian. The country has recorded 38 shootings in 2023 in which four or more victims died, the outlet reported. The previous record was 36 in 2022.

Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, the New York Democrat asked for unanimous consent on a proposal to introduce an “assault weapons ban, among other gun safety legislation,” which he claimed would end the “scourge of gun violence in America.”

Here’s the moment that Senate Republicans blocked the assault weapons ban when I put it on the Senate floor.

The American people are sick and tired of enduring one mass shooting after another.

Senate Democrats will not stop working to pass this bill. pic.twitter.com/8rnt3ZcvJR

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 6, 2023

The phrase “assault weapons” is used by anti-gun activists to demonize firearms. Given that all firearms are designed to assault, the phrase is effectively meaningless.

Among those to dismiss the plan was Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who warned it would violate Americans’ constitutional rights.

“Almost every single page of the bill that’s in front of us today adds new restrictions and new burdens on people who follow the law,” the senator said.

“It tells you what you can buy, what you can’t buy,” Barrasso continued. “It bans more than 205 rifles, shotguns and pistols by name.

“Republicans reject these unjustified and unconstitutional restrictions.”

Democrats defunded the police– now they want to disarm the American people. Watch now as I take the Senate floor to BLOCK @SenSchumer‘s attempt to infringe on your second Amendment rights. I will always protect our constitution and your right to freedom https://t.co/5w7OeGgGRm

— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) December 6, 2023

Kozuch thanked the senator for speaking in defense of Second Amendment rights.

“NRA’s millions of members are grateful to Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming for courageously standing on principle and championing the rights of law abiding Americans and stopping Schumer’s egregious onslaught on the rights of responsible gun owners,” he said, according to Fox News.

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Ben Kew is a conservative journalist and commentator. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied politics and modern languages at the University of Bristol. He started his career at Breitbart London aged 20, before moving to the U.S. to cover Congress and eventually becoming the outlet’s Latin America correspondent until the end of 2020. Since then he has worked in editorial roles at RedState and Human Events. He has also written for The Spectator, Spiked, The Epoch Times, The Critic and PanAm Post.

Ben Kew is a conservative journalist and commentator. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied politics and modern languages at the University of Bristol. He started his career at Breitbart London aged 20, before moving to the U.S. to cover Congress and eventually becoming the outlet’s Latin America correspondent until the end of 2020. Since then he has worked in editorial roles at RedState and Human Events. He has also written for The Spectator, Spiked, The Epoch Times, The Critic and PanAm Post.