Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.) called for a ban on "machine gun magazines" during a press conference Tuesday.

"If guns made this country safer, we would be the safest country on earth, but we are far from it," Maloney told reporters outside of the U.S. Capitol Building.

The congresswoman, who represents New Yorkers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, called for a multi-pronged approach to gun control in the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

"We need to really act in a number of ways. We need to pass an assault weapon ban, we need to ban the massacre machine gun magazines, and we need comprehensive background checks," she continued. "These are all bills and efforts that Democrats have supported."

It's not clear what Maloney meant by "machine gun magazines," which could have been a botched reference to bump stocks or high-capacity magazines, both of which have been targeted by Democratic legislation in recent years.

Fully-automatic machine guns have been effectively banned in the United States since the passage of the 1986 Firearm Owners' Protection Act. While it is technically possible to purchase pre-1986 machine guns, it takes a mountain of paperwork and approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and prices from private sales can go into the tens of thousands of dollars.