Salon.com > High-capacity magazines

Don’t mourn the assault weapons ban’s impending demise

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:45:00 +0000

If -- and it’s still a big if -- Congress passes any kind of meaningful new gun legislation, it’s looking increasingly like a reinstatement of the Assault Weapons Ban will not be a part of it. The new ban, introduced by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, will likely make it through the Senate Judiciary Committee’s legislation writing process, only to die on the Senate floor when it fails to secure enough votes as a stand-alone measure, according to multiple reports.

This will inevitably be portrayed as a huge loss for gun control advocates, and another big cave from congressional Democrats and the White House. Of all the gun control measures kicking around Capitol Hill right now, the ban has received by far the most attention, and it’s also one of the only proposals to have previously been the law of the land.

But the Assault Weapons Ban is and always has been a bit of a red herring, so people concerned about gun violence shouldn’t be too sad to see it go. Of all the policy proposals to prevent gun violence, it’s probably the least important and the most controversial, making it the ideal sacrificial sacred cow to appease gun rights advocates and to help secure passage of more effective strategies to curbing gun deaths, like a ban on large capacity ammunition magazines.

Feinstein on assault weapons ban: “No weapon is taken from anyone”

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:51:00 +0000

In a press conference Thursday, Democrats unveiled a new version of the assault weapons ban that they will introduce into the House and Senate, which includes a ban on 158 specifically named military-style firearms.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who sponsored the Senate version of the bill and who worked on the assault weapons ban from the '90s that expired in 2004, said in her remarks that this will be a "tough battle," but she is "incensed that our weak gun laws allow these mass killings to be carried out again and again and again in this country."

"The common thread in these shootings is that each gunman used a semi-automatic assault weapon" or a large-capacity magazine, Feinstein said.

The legislation specifically prohibits 158 types of military-grade firearms, as well as other semi-automatic rifles, handguns and shotguns that can have a detachable magazine and have at least one military characteristic. As Feinstein explained, the 1994 version of the law had a two-characteristic test for a weapon to be banned, but that was "too easy to work around."

Sen. Lautenberg introduces ban on high-capacity magazines

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:03:00 +0000

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced legislation Tuesday to make it illegal to manufacture or sell magazines that contain more than 10 rounds,.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who introduced a House companion to the bill, said in a statement that the magazines are "the common thread in every major mass shooting in recent history and taking them off the market can have a major impact on saving lives in America."

Lautenberg said in a statement:

It is clearer than ever that there is no place in our communities for military-style supersized magazines like those used inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Aurora, and in Tucson, and I will keep working to reinstate the ban on them. President Obama's bold plan to address gun violence included my common-sense proposal to ban high-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds, and we will get to work in Congress to pass this bill and other reasonable reforms that protect children and families.