Moms Demand Action-Endorsed Candidate Says Quiet Part Out Loud: Ban All Semi-Automatic Firearms

Diana Kastenbaum’s debate answer exposed the confusion behind one of the Left’s favorite gun control slogans

A Moms Demand Action-backed congressional candidate in New York is drawing scrutiny after using a Democratic primary debate to call for a ban on “assault weapons,” while appearing to blur the line between automatic firearms, semi-automatic firearms, and so-called assault rifles.

Diana Kastenbaum, a Democrat running in New York’s 24th Congressional District, made the comments during a Tuesday debate against fellow Democrat Alissa Ellman at the Arc Community Center in Batavia.

Gun control came up twice during the debate, and Kastenbaum leaned heavily on her support from Moms Demand Action.

“I see some Moms Demand Action T-shirts in the audience. Those are my peeps,” Kastenbaum said, according to local reporting from The Batavian. “I have to tell you that I got the 2026 designation for Moms Demand Action Against Gun Violence, and so I’m one of their candidates.”

She then moved directly into the familiar demand for a ban.

“I am very much against assault weapons,” Kastenbaum said. “I think that they should be banned.”

That alone would be standard Democratic campaign boilerplate. But Kastenbaum kept going.

“We need a ban back in place,” she said. “I also think we need a lot of other things. We need more mental health dollars going to people. Well, it’s just not the ban, but yeah, every single shooting we see, mass shooting, it’s with automatic weapons, it’s with assault rifles, and I think that we need to get them off our streets. I am all for a ban.”

That answer is now getting attention for the obvious reason: automatic weapons and semi-automatic firearms are not the same thing.

Her Opponent Pointed Out the Problem

Ellman, who described her background as including military experience, responded by saying lawmakers need to be precise before trying to write sweeping gun laws.

“I think that we need to have a very clear definition of what an assault weapon is,” Ellman said. “Because as far as I know, and from being in the military, there are only three classifications of weapons. There is a black powder, which is a single shot. There is a semi-automatic, which means that each time you pull the trigger, it fires, and there is an automatic where, when you pull the trigger and hold it, it continually fires.”

Then came the key point.

“Automatic weapons are already illegal,” Ellman said. “Semi-automatics are different.”

Technically, automatic firearms are not entirely illegal under federal law, but they are heavily restricted under the National Firearms Act and the Hughes Amendment, which generally bars civilian possession of newly manufactured machine guns made after 1986. The practical result is that law-abiding civilians cannot simply walk into a gun store and buy a new automatic rifle.

Semi-automatic firearms are different. They fire one round per trigger pull and automatically chamber the next round. That includes AR-15-style rifles, but it also includes many of the most common handguns, rifles, and shotguns used for self-defense, hunting, training, and sport shooting.

That is why Kastenbaum’s comments matter.

When politicians say “assault weapons,” they are often talking about semi-automatic firearms with certain cosmetic or functional features. When they start talking about banning the guns used in “every single mass shooting” and lumping “automatic weapons” together with “assault rifles,” the target gets a lot broader and a lot less precise.

Moms Demand Action Connection

Kastenbaum’s campaign has publicly promoted her 2026 Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction. Her campaign has described the distinction as recognition from the nationwide gun control group founded after the Sandy Hook school shooting and tied to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Her campaign website also lists Moms Demand Action under organizational endorsements.

That is important because Moms Demand Action and Everytown often present their agenda as “commonsense” gun safety. But in practice, candidates carrying that label frequently support bans on broad categories of commonly owned firearms.

Kastenbaum’s debate answer gives gun owners a clear example of what that looks like in real time.

She did not merely call for background checks or red flag laws. She called for a ban, said “assault weapons” should be taken “off our streets,” and framed mass shootings as involving “automatic weapons” and “assault rifles.”

For Second Amendment advocates, that sounded less like a carefully defined policy and more like a sweeping demand aimed at firearms that many Americans lawfully own.

A Familiar Pattern

This is not a new problem in the gun debate.

Gun control politicians often use terms like “assault weapon” and “assault rifle” interchangeably, even though they are not the same thing. An assault rifle, in the traditional military sense, is capable of selective fire. The civilian AR-15s targeted by most state and federal bans are semi-automatic.

That distinction matters legally and politically.

A ban on “assault weapons” usually depends on a legislative definition that includes semi-automatic firearms with certain features, such as detachable magazines, pistol grips, threaded barrels, adjustable stocks, or barrel shrouds. Those definitions vary from state to state and often sweep in ordinary firearms owned by millions of Americans.

Virginia recently enacted a law restricting the sale, transfer, manufacture, and import of certain semi-automatic firearms classified as “assault firearms.” Gun rights groups immediately challenged the law, arguing that the firearms and magazines targeted by the measure are commonly owned for lawful purposes.

That is the constitutional fight waiting behind every one of these slogans.

The Supreme Court’s modern Second Amendment decisions have made clear that the government cannot simply ban arms in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. Semi-automatic firearms plainly fall into that category.

The Quiet Part Keeps Getting Louder

Ellman did not exactly run as a gun rights candidate. She said she supports red flag laws, background checks, and laws that actually reduce violence. But her answer still exposed the weakness in Kastenbaum’s position.

Before lawmakers ban anything, they should know what they are banning.

Kastenbaum’s comments suggest either confusion over basic firearm terminology or a willingness to use that confusion to justify broader restrictions. Neither should reassure gun owners.

This is how the gun control movement works. The public message starts with “assault weapons.” Then the definitions expand. Then, semi-automatic firearms become the real target. Eventually, the debate is no longer about a narrow category of rifles. It is about whether Americans can keep the modern firearms they rely on for defense, sport, and lawful everyday use.

Kastenbaum may have thought she was giving a safe Democratic primary answer in front of a friendly crowd.

Instead, she gave Second Amendment supporters a reminder of what is really on the table.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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