Feinstein Vows to Introduce Assault Weapons Ban Bill

Feinstein Targets “Gun Culture” as Democrats Prepare New Attacks on 2nd Amendment

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 16, 2012

California Senate Democrat Dianne Feinstein – a renowned and notorious gun-grabber and enemy of the Second Amendment – targeted America’s “gun culture” in the wake of the deadly rampage in Connecticut attributed to a mentally ill man on Friday.

“I hope and trust that in the next session of Congress there will be sustained and thoughtful debate about America’s gun culture and our responsibility to prevent more loss of life,” Feinstein said soon after the murders.

“I will do another assault weapons ban,” she promised.

Feinstein has exploited shootings in the past as part of her ongoing effort to attack the Second Amendment. In 1993, following the the 101 California St. shooting in San Francisco, Feinstein introduced an assault weapons ban in the Senate. The decade long ban was signed into law by president Clinton in 1994. It outlawed a number of semi-automatic weapons based on cosmetic features and other attributes such as flash suppressors and telescoping stocks. The law also banned “high capacity magazines or feeding devices.”

Despite claims by Democrats, studies found that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban did not reduce or prevent violence. The United States Department of Justice National Institute of Justice said that a renewed gun ban would have virtually no impact on gun violence because so-called “assault weapons” are rarely used in gun crimes. Moreover, according to a study performed by the Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, there is no statistically significant evidence that either the assault weapons ban or the ban on magazines holding more than 10 bullets had reduced murders attributed to firearms.

Since the law expired in 2004, the anti-Second Amendment crowd has unsuccessfully attempted to pass a number of bills outlawing firearms. Feinstein and fellow gun-grabber Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Democrat of New York, have remained at the forefront of the effort to disarm the American people. McCarthy has introduced legislation to ban so-called assault weapons on numerous occasions. Fortunately for the Second Amendment, all of her efforts have failed.

Democrats are determined to enact an assault weapons ban and make it permanent. Following the 2008 election, the website of president-elect Obama stated a position that included “making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.” The statement later appeared on the administration’s website, WhiteHouse.gov, with the above wording intact.

In 2009, Obama’s newly sworn in attorney general, Eric Holder, said the administration planned to reinstate the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Holder’s statement came in response to a question concerning the Fast and Furious operation designed to arm drug cartels in Mexico. Holder said “there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons.”

Democrats are ready to exploit the Sandy Hook killings and introduce a new assault weapons ban when the 113th Congress convenes in January. Anti-Second Amendment activists explain that an assault weapons ban, however, is only part of the plan to disarm Americans.

“The assault weapons ban is a piece of the puzzle,” Benjamin Van Houten, managing attorney of the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun violence, told Capitol Confidential. “It’s not the whole thing but it’s an important piece for moving forward on this issue.”

Outlawing semi-automatic weapons, however, will be an uphill battle for Democrats. Republicans control the House and there are key Democrats in the Senate opposed to further draconian gun control legislation. Moreover, the Democrat majority lacks the 60 votes required to end a filibuster Republicans would undoubtedly use to defeat any such legislation.

It looks like any effort by the gun-grabbers and anti-Second Amendment advocates to exploit last week’s mass murder will likely fizzle out.

“Everyone’s frustrated and I understand why people use this terrible tragedy for a good purpose, trying to get a discussion going on gun control,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “But the House probably wouldn’t even bring any of it up for a vote.”

Odds against a new assault weapons ban will not stop anti-gun Democrats and their fellow travelers – for instance, Sen. Joseph Lieberman. On Sunday, the Independent Connecticut senator echoed Feinstein and Chuck Schumer and called for legislation outlawing assault weapons. Lieberman also called for “a national commission aimed at preventing instances of mass violence from happening again,” according to the Washington Post.

This article was posted: Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 10:35 am

Tags: activism, constitution, domestic news, gun rights

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