Sen. Feinstein rolls out gun ban measure

Washington -- - Nearly two decades after she championed a nationwide ban on assault weapons, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democratic lawmakers rolled out a new ban on military-style rifles Thursday in the wake of the mass shooting last month at a Connecticut elementary school.

The measure, proposed more than eight years after the 1994 ban expired, would prohibit 157 rifles, including the Bushmaster XM-15 that Adam Lanza used in the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults. It also would outlaw ammunition magazines with a capacity above 10 rounds.

Feinstein acknowledged that the legislation faces an uphill battle to win approval on Capitol Hill, and she urged supporters to speak out.

"You are stronger than the gun lobby, you are stronger than the gun manufacturers," Feinstein told a gathering of gun-control activists and eight people traumatized by mass shootings - two who were shot and six relatives of those who died.

"Only if you stand up, and America rises up and people call every member of the House and every member of the Senate and say, 'We have had enough' ... we can win this."

But winning the votes of Republicans who control the House - and even Senate Democrats from pro-gun states such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. - is likely to be difficult, backers of the legislation said.

'Uphill road'

"This is really an uphill road," Feinstein said. "If anyone asks today, 'Can you win this?' - the answer is, 'We don't know.' " She added that red state representatives may be emboldened to support the ban if they hear from enough constituents. She insisted she'll stick with the fight no matter what, saying "I'm not going away."

Feinstein introduced the original assault weapons ban, which became law in 1994 but expired in 2004.

The new ban differs from the old one in several respects. There is no sunset provision, which means that if the bill were to become law, it would not expire. The measure would protect 2,258 hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns, a provision meant to undercut gun-owner fears that Congress is intent on seizing legal guns in the aftermath of Newtown.

The proposal also bans any weapon with a detachable magazine and a single military-style feature, such as a pistol grip, a flash suppressor, a bayonet lug or grenade launcher.

The original ban barred weapons with a detachable magazine plus two military-style features, which gave gun manufacturers too much leeway in refashioning weapons to comply with the law, Feinstein said. If the new proposal becomes law, a legal weapon could have a detachable magazine but not a pistol grip, for example.

Gun-control advocates said the one-feature test represents a major improvement over the two-feature test of the expired ban. Such a test ultimately would render these weapons less attractive to gun enthusiasts, they said.

Background checks

Introduction of the new assault weapons ban came a week after President Obama included an assault weapons ban on a list of legislative proposals and executive orders designed to reduce gun violence. Also high up on the president's list: universal background checks for every gun purchase, even those between private individuals.

Feinstein's proposal is based on California's state law banning assault weapons, which bars weapons with a detachable magazine and one military-type feature.

On Thursday, the memory of the Newtown victims permeated the ban's rollout at a Senate office building.

"What happened in Newtown on Dec. 14th, 2012, was an unimaginable tragedy," said Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., who represents the district that includes Newtown. "What happens now is up to each of us."

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., the ban's lead sponsor in the House, who lost her husband to a mass shooter on a Long Island Railroad commuter train in 1993, said that prior to Newtown, "in Congress, nobody wanted to touch the issue."

In Newtown's aftermath, "The people of America said, 'How could this happen? How could this happen to our children?' " she said. "You're going to hear from some on the opposite side ... that it can't be done. I'm telling you with all my heart and soul it can be done."

Gun-rights groups saw nothing in the proposal to cheer about.

"Sen. Feinstein has been trying to ban guns from law-abiding citizens for decades," the National Rifle Association said in a statement. "The American people know gun bans do not work, and we are confident Congress will reject Sen. Feinstein's wrong-headed approach."

Hunting rifles not at risk

Feinstein and other proponents insisted the ban is not a threat to legitimate hunters and sporting shooters.

"None of us wants to take away the hunting rifle that Uncle Tommy bought you when you were 14 years old," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor of the ban.

Although the Second Amendment protects gun ownership, "there's no inalienable right to own and operate a 100-round clip on an AR-15 rifle," Schumer said, comparing limits on the Second Amendment to those on the First Amendment right of freedom of speech. "You can't falsely scream 'fire' in a crowded theater."

Feinstein appeared determined to fight for the bill no matter the cost.

"It has to be done," she said. "The future of the nation is at stake."

With the ban in place, she said, "There will be less of these attacks. I really do believe that."

Dan Freedman is a reporter in the Hearst Newspapers Washington bureau. E-mail: dan@hearstdc.com