A House Democratic lawmaker says he was unable to find even one example of a time when an assailant with an “assault weapon” was stopped by someone else with a gun.
During a hearing on Thursday, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) claimed, “I don‘t think there is a single incident — maybe there is one, but I have not found one — of an assailant using an assault weapon that was stopped by a person with a gun.”
“Maybe there’s one of the thousands and thousands and thousands of shootings,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Rep. @davidcicilline: "I don‘t think there is a single incident — maybe there is one, but I have not found one — of an assailant using an assault weapon that was stopped by a person with a gun" pic.twitter.com/MWBsnAUHA8
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 2, 2022
The hearing comes in the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The shooters in all of those shootings reportedly used an AR-15 or similar rifle.
Calls for gun control have been revived in the wake of those shootings, which occurred within a matter of weeks.
While the Rhode Island Democrat insisted he could not find one example of an assailant armed with a so-called “assault weapon” being stopped by another person with a gun, there was a recent example.
Last week, an individual with an AR-15-style rifle fired into a crowd of people who had gathered for a birthday party in Charleston, West Virginia.
A woman who was in attendance drew her pistol and shot and killed the assailant.
According to the Associated Press, “No one at the party was injured.”
Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett told reporters, “Instead of running from the threat, she engaged with the threat and saved several lives last night.”
Hazelett said that the woman will not face any charges.
