Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) repeated her vow to bring back an assault weapons ban on the first day the Senate meets next year.
Feinstein, a co-author of the original 1994 Federal Assault Weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said that since she announced her plan on Sunday on Meet The Press, her phone has been ringing with support from local mayors, including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, as well as CEOs, and citizens groups. “We intend to introduce a bill, and I intend one way or another, no matter how long it takes, I intend to get that bill through,” she told Andrea Mitchell. “There’s one thing I’m sure of, that in the absence of doing something that is sound, practical, that’s workable, these incidents are not going to stop. I’ve watched them now since the Texas bell tower in 1967.”
Senator Feinstein also told Mitchell that she placed a call to President Obama this morning looking for his help in moving her bill forward.
That effort to bring back an assault weapons ban is not something sparked by last week’s tragic shooting, said Feinstein:
“What we have been doing for more than a year now is going through that bill carefully, making improvements in the bill, updating it, modifying it, putting it out for vetting with gun specialists. And we will be prepared to introduce an updated version of this on the first day of the next United States Senate.” Citing her victory with the 1994 assault weapons ban which was signed into law by President Clinton, Feinstein said she was confident that a 2013 bill would have sufficient backing in Congress and in the courts. “The NRA did not bring my prior bill to court at all. They knew it would not survive, their action would not survive in the courts. I believe that even under new opinions, the ability to pass some restrictions on these kinds of weapons will be sustained by the court.”
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