No more need for a scramble to pay a panic price to buy one of these.
From the minute Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced it in January, even its most avid supporters knew a renewed
assault weapons ban would have little chance of passing the Senate. Not just because of staunch, probably unanimous Republican opposition, but because perhaps as many as a dozen Democratic senators would also reject it. Of course, it had zero chance of passing the Republican-run House.
On Monday, Feinstein got the news from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: her bill will not be included in whatever package is presented to the full Senate for debate, but added only as an amendment. That probably has many Democrats breathing a sigh of relief as it will remove from the spotlight—and reduce its impact as an issue in the 2014 elections—what is the most contentious of the new gun measures being proposed in the wake of the 12/14 Newtown, Connecticut, massacre. John Bresnahan and Manu Raji report:
Asked if she were concerned about the decision, Feinstein paused and said, “Sure. I would like to [see the bill moved], but the leader has decided not to do it.”
“You will have to ask him [Reid],” she said, when asked why the decision was made.
Reid’s decision highlights the tightrope walked by the majority leader in governing the gun control issue. Trapped between the White House and rank-and-file Democrats who support broad gun control legislation following the shootings last December in Newtown, Conn., Reid must also be mindful of red-state Democrats up for reelection in 2014 who favor gun rights.
Top Democratic aides said Reid — who is huddling this week with Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) — who will manage the gun bill on the floor — may file the Democratic gun bill as early as this week, as he prepares to bring the measure up for a vote in early April after a two-week congressional recess.
Feinstein's proposal would prohibit the importation, manufacture and sale of a list of 157 military-style semi-automatic rifles and put a limit of 10 rounds on the capacity of gun magazines. It includes specific exemptions for 2,170 rifles and shotguns, many of them not semi-automatic. It would allow existing owners to keep the weapons and magazines covered by the ban. Foes said from the beginning that the ban would be ineffective at stopping mass shootings and argued that the weapons that would be banned aren't all that different from many of those that would be exempt.
Reid, who has in the past expressed opposition to a ban on assault weapons, has yet to decide which of the gun bills that have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee will be part of the package or even how they will be presented. Only one bill, which would tighten penalties on gun trafficking for anyone who knowingly purchases firearms for a person prohibited from owning guns, apparently has enough Republican support to get it past the 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate even though critics label it redundant since so-called "straw purchases" are already outlawed. A bill that would ramp up federal support for school safety might also get enough votes to clear the Senate.
Expanding background checks that are now required only for gun sales by federally licensed dealers to most private sales was widely viewed a month ago as the most likely of the new measures to pass. In poll after poll, Americans back a universal background check by 85 percent or more. But even that proposal has run aground, specifically over the matter of record-keeping.
Opponents, such as Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, say keeping records of private transactions will produce a gun registry that could be later be used to confiscate guns. Supporters, like sponsor Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, say no gun registry would be created but that without some form of record-keeping the background check law would be ineffective. A stringent, no-exemptions bill approved—like the assault weapons ban—on a party-line vote, has passed the Judiciary committee. But even pro-control groups think that it should be diluted so it can get support from Republicans and conservative Democrats.
For the moment, it is not certain which proposals will actually make it into the main gun-control bill or package of bills and which will be added as amendments. And it's uncertain whether anything will be introduced on the Senate floor by the time that body adjourns for the Easter recess.