Time and again, we’ve stood witness to innocent lives lost at the hands of madmen armed with military-grade assault weapons like the AR-15. Time and again, NRA-backed politicians have failed to act on getting these weapons of war out of civilian hands.
That’s why we began Ban Assault Weapons NOW back in 2018: as a citizen-led movement to place a constitutional amendment banning assault weapons before Florida voters. When the Florida Supreme Court rejected our ballot initiative, it became clear that the NRA had obtained outsized influence on our state’s leaders – and that elections have consequences.
Now, we're taking matters into our own hands.
BAWN is committed to replacing NRA-backed lawmakers with those who understand the need for gun safety reform as well as pushing state legislators to address this issue when they meet in Tallahassee.
How do we do it? There are two components to our efforts: electoral and legislative. BAWN supports candidates for the Florida House and Florida Senate who pledge to sponsor bills banning the sale and transfer of assault weapons. Through contributions, political mailers and digital ads, we provide a vehicle to help win some of the most competitive races in the state and bring real, meaningful change that will save lives.
When the legislature convenes, we make sure our issue is prioritized by building a strong coalition of supporters behind our bills. In 2021, BAWN was able to amass a record number of 52 House and Senate co-sponsors behind bills seeking to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. That amounts to approximately 90% of the overall Democratic Caucus and has never before been done in our state! We can now say with certainty that the appetite and urgency to ban these weapons of war is increasing, thanks in part to BAWN's efforts.