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This week two federal lawmakers introduced the the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act.

Basically, it’s a comprehensive ban on semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines. It also prohibits magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.

Not surprisingly, the GOSAFE Act has a ringing endorsement from Everytown for Gun Safety, the anti-gun organization funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

“As weapons of war have become commonplace in America, so has the unfathomable carnage they wreak on our communities,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety.

“We applaud Senator Heinrich for introducing innovative legislation that would regulate assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which are capable of creating devastating destruction in an instant,” Feinblatt continued.

“We urge Senator Heinrich’s colleagues to pass this bill before yet another community is forever scarred by someone filled with hate and armed with an AR-15,” he concluded.

Below you’ll find the details of the GOSAFE Act as defined by the sponsors Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Angus King (I-Maine):

Regulates Sale, Transfer, & Manufacture of Semi-Automatic Firearms

• The GOSAFE Act regulates firearms based on the inherently dangerous and unusual lethality of their internal mechanisms, as opposed to focusing on cosmetic features that manufacturers can easily modify.
• If enacted, the bill would regulate the sale, transfer, and manufacture of gas-operated semi-automatic weapons by:
  • Establishing a list of prohibited firearms;
  • Preventing unlawful modifications of permissible firearms;
  • Mandating that future gas-operated designs are approved before manufacture; and
  • Preventing unlawful firearm self-assembly and manufacturing.

Protects Americans’ Second Amendment Right

• The GOSAFE Act protects Americans’ constitutional right to own a gun based on a firearm’s established use for self-defense, hunting or sporting purposes.
• The GOSAFE Act accomplishes this by including exemptions based on maximum ammunition capacity according to a firearm’s individual class: a rifle, shotgun, or handgun.
• This capacity must be “permanently fixed” meaning the firearm cannot accept a detachable, high-capacity magazine that would increase the number of rounds that can be fired before reloading and make reloading easier.

Exemptions include:

• .22 caliber rimfire or less firearms
• Bolt action rifles
• Semi-automatic shotguns
• Recoil-operated handguns
• Any rifle with a permanently fixed magazine of 10 rounds or less
• Any shotgun with a permanently fixed magazine of 10 rounds or less
• Any handgun with a permanently fixed magazine of 15 rounds or less

Limits High-Capacity Ammunition Devices

• The GOSAFE Act limits a firearm’s ability to inflict maximum harm in a short amount of time by directly regulating large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
• The bill would limit the number of rounds that large capacity ammunition feeding devices are permitted to carry to 10 rounds of ammunition or fewer.
• Additionally, the GOSAFE Act makes conversion devices, including bump stocks and Glock switches, unlawful.

Improves Public Safety Response & Protects Law Enforcement

• The GOSAFE Act will force would-be mass shooters to reload their guns more frequently — giving people time to flee and law enforcement time to arrive on the scene – while also maintaining law enforcement access to regulated firearms, so law enforcement continues to have the tools they need to respond to a mass shooting event.

Creates Optional Buy-Back Program

• The GOSAFE Act will prevent stockpiling of these lethal firearms and large capacity magazines, and also ensure no one loses the value of any firearms they currently have, by establishing a voluntary buy-back program, which would allow firearm owners to voluntarily turn over and receive compensation for non-transferrable firearms and magazines as defined by this legislation.

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This story is developing, stay tuned for reactions from pro-gun organizations.

UPDATE: NSSF Responds

“The legislation introduced by Senators King and Heinrich is openly defiant of the rights protected by the U.S. Constitution. There is no path forward for legislation of this nature that would deprive law-abiding citizens the ability to lawfully possess the firearm of their choosing and the full spectrum of their Second Amendment rights,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

“This legislation is a knee-jerk reaction to a travesty for which the American public is still demanding answers as to why the Lewiston murderer, who clearly showed signs of mental instability and professed to violent threats, was allowed by state and federal agencies to continue to possess firearms,” Keane continued. “Depriving law-abiding citizens of their Constitutional rights for the criminal acts of a depraved individual doesn’t make our communities safer.”

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