House passes semi-automatic gun ban after 18-year lapse

The House has passed legislation to revive a ban on semi-automatic guns.

It's a response to the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed the bill forward Friday, but the legislation is likely to go nowhere in the Senate. Republicans dismiss the measure as an election-year strategy by Democrats. 

Once banned in the U.S., the high-powered firearms are now widely blamed in many mass shootings. Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to counter the powerful gun lobby. President Joe Biden has urged passage.