Friday’s decision aims to revive a law that bans these weapons. In recent years, the semi-automatic weapons have been used by young men who are behind several of the largest mass shootings in the United States.
The proposal to amend the law will probably not proceed in the Senate. The Democrats have half of the senators, that is 50. But for the sale to be approved, 60 senators must vote in favor.
This means that ten Republicans must vote for the proposal, but in the House of Representatives only two Republicans voted for it.
The proposal went through with 217 votes in favor and 213 votes against.
Congress leader, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, believes the law is a decisive step in the fight against gun crime in the United States.
In May, 19 schoolchildren and two teachers were killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary, the worst school shooting in the United States since the attack on the Sandy Hook school in Connecticut in 2012. The perpetrator, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, used an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon.
The weapons were banned at the time, but in 1994 Congress allowed restrictions on the production and sale of such weapons to expire after ten years. More recently, there has not been enough political support to counter the powerful gun lobby in the US and reintroduce the gun ban.
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