U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., opposes a plan under consideration in the Senate that would ban the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic weapons.
Pryor spokeswoman Lucy Speed said Thursday (Jan. 31) the senator opposes banning semi-automatic weapons because a ban would put restrictions on law-abiding citizens.
He also opposes a ban because data shows there would be “no significant reductions in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence," she said.
Since the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in December, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other Democrats have called for a ban on the sale, manufacture, importation and transfer of about 150 rifles, handguns and shotguns.
Speed said Pryor is a strong Second Amendment supporter who has "supported efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill, and adolescents while protecting Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Arkansans."
"His number one priority is listening to Arkansans," she said.
An outdoorsman and hunter, Pryor is vice chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, which has about 300 members, including Republicans and Democrats, Speed said.
Pryor is up for re-election in 2014 and has said he is running for another term.
Last week Pryor told 5NEWS he wanted to speak with more people in the state before deciding whether to support the proposed ban.
