This past Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Democrat-sponsored “Assault Weapons Ban of 2022” by a vote of 217-213.

Every member of Alabama’s congressional delegation, besides U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham), voted against the sweeping measure.

The bill, which faces an uncertain fate in the U.S. Senate due to the chamber’s procedural rules, would ban some of the most utilized firearms and magazines in the United States.

The ban of so-called assault weapons prohibits the legal ownership of a variety of commonly used sporting rifles and home defense firearms. The legislation bans an array of semiautomatic firearms based on magazine capacity and characteristics that make a weapon capable of accepting a wide assortment of popular modifications.

Read the bill’s language in full here.

In a statement detailing his opposition to the bill, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) asserted that the legislative measure was congressional Democrats’ most recent effort to curtail the constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens.

“This unconstitutional mandate won’t make Americans any safer and will instead result in the disarming of thousands of lawful gun owners who simply want to protect their families and exercise their constitutional rights,” declared Moore in a release. “Instead of performing their most fundamental duty to protect your Constitutional rights, Democrats are hellbent on taking them away.”

“This direct assault on the Second Amendment will capture millions of sporting rifles, shotguns, and pistols simply because they have certain mechanical features that even the authors of the bill have demonstrated they don’t understand,” he noted. “This bill even bans pistol braces used by disabled Americans, including many veterans, to sport shoot and hunt.”

According to Moore, the majority party had used the legislation as a means to actively campaign for the midterm elections in an endeavor to score political points on the trail.

“Anyone willing to steal one of your rights would take away all of them,” added Moore. “If Democrats cared about keeping Americans safe and not increasing their own power and using the House floor to campaign, they would engage in real bipartisan conversation and pursue solutions where common ground exists.”

The South Alabama congressman stated his intentions of continuing his efforts to combat Democrats’ attempts to “seize power” from the American citizenry.

“I am committed to doing all I can to force Congress to seek productive and constitutional measures that keep Americans safe, and I plan to introduce legislation next month that will increase safety in schools while protecting Constitutional rights. This issue is too important for freedom-loving Americans to remain on the sidelines, and I will continue doing all I can to fight those seeking to seize power from the people and give it to the government,” concluded Moore.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL