WATCH: Congressman Explains to House Committee What a ‘Weapon of War’ Actually Is

Last week the House Judiciary Committee advanced legislation to ban so-called “assault weapons.” During the hearing on the bill, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) tried to explain to his Democratic peers why an AR-15 is not a “weapon of war.”

“The Democratic majority is discriminating against some of the most popular weapons in the United States simply because they don’t like the way they look — not because of the way they function,” said Rep. Steube, a veteran of the U.S. Army.

“There are so many Americans who are confused when they see a semiautomatic rifle that the Democrats want to ban as being fully automatic. It’s not. You can’t purchase that [M4]. It’s illegal,” he continued.

“It [AR-15} is not a weapon of war. A weapon of war has a fully automatic switch or a three-round burst,” Steube concluded.

Though the Florida Republican may have clarified things a bit, the Dems still went ahead and advanced the legislation, H.R. 1808, “The Assault Weapons Ban of 2021,“ by a 25-18 vote.

The bill will now go before the full floor for a vote in the coming weeks.

As GunsAmerica previously reported, H.R. 1808 would make it unlawful for a person to import, sell, manufacture, or transfer the following:

• All semi-automatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one of the following military features: (1) pistol grip; (2) forward grip; (3) folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; (4) grenade launcher; (5) barrel shroud; or (6) threaded barrel.
• All semi-automatic rifles that have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
• Bump fire stocks and any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machinegun.
• All semiautomatic pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one of the following military features: (1) threaded barrel; (2) second pistol grip; (3) barrel shroud; (4) capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip; or (5) semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm.
• All semi-automatic shotguns that have at least one of the following (1) a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; (2) pistol grip; (3) fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 5 rounds; (4) ability to accept a detachable magazine; (5) forward grip; (6) grenade launcher; or (7) shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
• High capacity feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.