WASHINGTON — Survivors of some of the most deadly and horrific school shootings in U.S. history spoke Wednesday in support of a reintroduced bill to ban assault weapons for civilian use in the United States.

Joined by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and other Democratic supporters of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025, survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., shooting that killed 17 people at a high school and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut that killed 26 pleaded with lawmakers to pass the bill.

“Every time I hear about another school shooting, I’m back in that classroom in Sandy Hook. I’m back to being six years old, hiding, listening, waiting to die,” said Matt Holden, now 18, a student at George Washington University and an advisory board member of the gun violence prevention group Newtown Action Alliance. “That memory doesn’t fade. It just hardens into resolve.”

What You Need To Know

  • Survivors of some of the most notorious school shootings in the United States joined Congressional Democrats Wednesday in support of a reintroduced bill to ban assault weapons 
  • The Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 is patterned after the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which expired after 10 years
  • If passed, the bill would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for civilian use in the United States
  • Introduced Wednesday in both the House and the Senate, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 has almost no chance of passing with both chambers controlled by Republicans

Holden was one of three school shooting survivors who spoke at an event reintroducing an expired bill that would ban civilians' purchase or possession of high-powered semiautomatic firearms including the AR-15 rifle that is used in many mass shootings.

Holden said he was tired of thoughts and prayers. 

“We need courage, we need action and we need every single member of Congress right now to decide if they’re going to stand with us, the survivors, or stand with the industry that arms the next shooter,” the teenager said. Twenty of the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook in 2012 were between six and seven years old.

The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action director John Commerford told Spectrum News the bill would "ban commonly owned firearms that are used by millions of Americans each and every day to defend themselves and their loved ones" and does not address the root causes of violent crime. 

In introducing the legislation, Murphy cited reductions in gun violence following the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022. The legislation strengthened background checks for gun purchases among people under the age of 21.

Murphy said school shootings have fallen 23% and mass shootings have dropped 25% since the legislation was passed. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 12% fewer gun deaths in 2024 in the United States compared with 2023.

“Banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is not political,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Aalayah Eastmond said at the event. “It’s a necessary, life-saving solution to our nation’s disgusting and egregious gun violence epidemic.” 

Eastmond said it took the shooter at her high school about six minutes to murder 14 students and three teachers and to injure another 17. In that time, she said the shooter fired nearly 150 rounds of ammunition.

The Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 is based on the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, which prohibited the manufacture of some semi-automatic firearms for civilian use and large-capacity magazines for ammunition. Passed during the Clinton administration, the ban lasted ten years.

Introduced Wednesday in both the House and the Senate, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025 has almost no chance of passing with both chambers controlled by Republicans and the White House occupied by President Donald Trump.

"I think the path is a very difficult one given that the Republicans control both houses and at this point they are still very much in the thrall of the NRA," said Schiff, who lead the bill's reintroduction with Murphy. "Until that changes, until we get a few Republican members — it doesn't have to be a majority, it certainly doesn't have to be all — but until we get a few that place a higher priority on the lives of their constitutents and on the young people in their districts, then we are going to have difficulty getting this bill through."

Bill co-sponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he is determined to work in a bipartisan manner to help it pass. 

“Gun violence prevention is not red or blue. It is America,” he said. “Gun violence will be on the ballot in 2026 in every Congressional district across the country and holding members of Congress accountable.”