Religious and community leaders gathered Thursday at the state Capitol to show their support for legislation that would ban AK-47s and other assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and armor-piercing bullets.

The Rev. Robert C. Wright, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta said House Bill 731, sponsored by veteran state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, isn’t an attack on the Second Amendment but on weapons that are extreme and extraordinary.

The bill would outlaw weapons and ammunition that are “beyond the pale and unnecessary” and should not “be availabe to the average citizen,” Wright said.

Also speaking in support of Oliver’s bill was the Rev. David Lewicki, chair of Presbyterians for Better Georgia and co-pastor of North Decatur Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Gary Charles, senior pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

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