Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) – who has become notorious for his web of lies, including fabrications about his mother escaping from the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001 – is now listed as the co-sponsor of a bill that would make the AR-15 rifle the “National Gun of the United States.”
Though the legislation was introduced last week by Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), text of it was not available as of Friday.
“As of 02/24/2023 text has not been received for H.R.1095 - To declare an AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round to be the National Gun of the United States,” said Congress. “Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from GPO, the Government Publishing Office, a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is also listed as a co-sponsor of the bill.
AR-15 rifles are semiautomatic weapons that have been used by gunmen in a number of U.S. mass shootings in recent years, per CBS News. These include the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school massacre; the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Florida.
Linda Beigel Schulman’s son Scott Beigel was a teacher who was killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. Schulman told CBS 2 that she thought it was a “joke” when she heard Santos was supporting the AR-15 National Gun Act.
“The man is literally a psychopath,” she said. “We need gun safety. We don’t need to put a prize on something that kills people.”
Over the summer, President Joe Biden said in a speech that the nation should “reinstate the assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazines that we passed in 1994 with bipartisan support in Congress and the support of law enforcement.”
He said that mass shootings decreased while the law was in place. It expired in 2004.
Legislation honoring the AR-15 seems to go directly against public opinion. Last month, research from the Brookings Institution found that 68% of all 2022 voters support banning AR-15 style rifles.
However, some are resistant to gun legislation. In a 2016 blog post, the National Rifle Association called it “America’s most popular rifle.”
“The anti-Second Amendment group won’t stop until they take away all your firearms,” said Moore during a press conference about his proposed bill this week. “One rule to remember: any government that would take away one right would take away them all.”
Regarding Santos’ move to co-sponsor the bill, Audacy’s 1010 WINS in New York reported that Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul said it is “appalling.”
“These weapons of war have been used in horrific mass shootings across our country. This bill should never become law, and if he has any respect for New Yorkers, Rep. Santos should remove his name from it immediately,” she said in a tweet.
According to Gothamist, s spokesperson for Santos’ congressional office didn’t return a request for comment on the subject immediately.
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