The sponsor of a proposed assault weapons ban says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has told her that the ban will not be part of the initial gun control measure the Senate will debate next month.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, says that, instead of being included in the measure, the ban will be offered as an amendment. The decision, which was expected, means that the ban seems to stand little chance of surviving because of expected solid opposition from Republicans and likely defections from some moderate Democrats.
The ban was one of four gun control measures approved this month by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The others would expand required federal background checks for firearms buyers, increase federal penalties for illegal gun trafficking, and boost school safety money.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided that a proposed assault weapons ban won’t be part of a gun control bill the Senate plans to debate next month, the sponsor of the ban said, a decision that means the ban stands little chance of survival.
Instead, Senator Dianne Feinstein said she will be able to offer her ban on the military-style firearms as an amendment. Feinstein is all but certain to need sixty votes from the hundred-member Senate to prevail, but she faces solid Republican opposition and likely defections from some moderate Democrats. “I very much regret it,” Feinstein told reporters of Reid’s decision. “I tried my best.” Feinstein, an author of the 1994 assault weapons ban that expired after a decade, said that Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, told her of the decision on Monday.
There are 53 Democrats in the Senate, plus two independents who usually vote with them.
An assault-type weapon was used in the December massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut that revived gun control as a top issue in Washington. Banning those firearms was among the proposals President Barack Obama made in January in response to those slayings.
The assault weapons ban was the most controversial of the major proposals to restrict guns that have been advanced by Obama and Senate Democrats. Because of that, it had been expected that the assault weapons measure would be left out of the initial package the Senate considers, with Democrats hoping the Senate could therefore amass the strongest possible vote for the overall legislation.
Having a separate vote on assault weapons might free moderate Democratic senators facing re-election next year in Republican-leaning states to vote against the assault weapons measure, but then support the remaining overall package of gun curbs.
Gun control supporters consider a strong Senate vote important, because the Republican-run House has shown little enthusiasm for most of Obama’s proposals.
Feinstein said Reid told her there will be two votes: one would be on her assault weapons ban, which also includes a ban on ammunition magazines that carry more than ten rounds of ammunition, and the second would just be on prohibiting the high-capacity magazine clips. Many Democrats think the ban on large-capacity magazines has a better chance of getting sixty votes than the assault weapons ban.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved four gun control measures this month, including Feinstein’s barring assault weapons and high capacity magazines. The others would expand required federal background checks for firearms buyers, increase federal penalties for illegal gun trafficking and boost school safety money.
Rico says he's not lamenting this outcome...
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