A mass shooting in Kansas City, on the sixth anniversary of the Parkland shooting, has once again devastated families, communities, and cost lives.

The United States surpassed 650 mass shootings in 2023. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens.

This is devastating news. This is an epidemic that we can and must prevent.

Banning assault weapons saves lives. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban reduced the risk of a person in the U.S. dying from a mass shooting by 70%. Both the number of deaths and the number of annual incidents decreased significantly. Congress failed to extend the assault weapons ban beyond 2004.

Assault weapons like those once restricted by the ban were used in most of the horrific, random massacres that define the tragedy of mass shootings, including at Sandy Hook in 2012, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and Uvalde, TX in 2022. With easy access to military-style semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines, too many individuals have filled our schools, malls, concerts, movie theaters, places of worship, stores, highways, parades, and other public spaces with terror, devastation, and terrible loss.

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Too many Americans are being senselessly gunned down in public spaces in towns and cities across the nation. Americans deserve a strong response from the federal government.

In order to save lives and stop the carnage, Congress must enact a federal assault weapons ban.