Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Feinstein Goes For Broke With New Gun-Ban Bill
NRA ^ | 12/27/2012 | NRA/ILA Staff

Posted on 12/29/2012 7:33:08 AM PST by IbJensen

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)—author of the federal “assault weapon” and “large” ammunition magazine ban of 1994-2004—has announced that on the first day of the new Congress—January 3rd— she will introduce a bill to which her 1994 ban will pale by comparison. On Dec. 17th, Feinstein said, “I have been working with my staff for over a year on this legislation” and “It will be carefully focused.” Indicating the depth of her research on the issue, she said on Dec. 21st that she had personally looked at pictures of guns in 1993, and again in 2012.

According to a Dec. 27th posting on Sen. Feinstein’s website and a draft of the bill obtained by NRA-ILA, the new ban would, among other things, adopt new definitions of “assault weapon” that would affect a much larger variety of firearms, require current owners of such firearms to register them with the federal government under the National Firearms Act, and require forfeiture of the firearms upon the deaths of their current owners. Some of the changes in Feinstein’s new bill are as follows: •Reduces, from two to one, the number of permitted external features on various firearms. The 1994 ban permitted various firearms to be manufactured only if they were assembled with no more than one feature listed in the law. Feinstein’s new bill would prohibit the manufacture of the same firearms with even one of the features.

•Adopts new lists of prohibited external features. For example, whereas the 1994 ban applied to a rifle or shotgun the “pistol grip” of which “protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon,” the new bill would drastically expand the definition to include any “grip . . . or any other characteristic that can function as a grip.” Also, the new bill adds “forward grip” to the list of prohibiting features for rifles, defining it as “a grip located forward of the trigger that functions as a pistol grip.” Read literally and in conjunction with the reduction from two features to one, the new language would apply to every detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifle. At a minimum, it would, for example, ban all models of the AR-15, even those developed for compliance with California’s highly restrictive ban.

• Carries hyperbole further than the 1994 ban. Feinstein’s 1994 ban listed “grenade launcher” as one of the prohibiting features for rifles. Her 2013 bill carries goes even further into the ridiculous, by also listing “rocket launcher.” Such devices are restricted under the National Firearms Act and, obviously, are not standard components of the firearms Feinstein wants to ban. Perhaps a subsequent Feinstein bill will add “nuclear bomb,” “particle beam weapon,” or something else equally far-fetched to the features list. •Expands the definition of “assault weapon” by including:

•Three very popular rifles: The M1 Carbine (introduced in 1944 and for many years sold by the federal government to individuals involved in marksmanship competition), a model of the Ruger Mini-14, and most or all models of the SKS.

•Any “semiautomatic, centerfire, or rimfire rifle that has a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds,” except for tubular-magazine .22s.

•Any “semiautomatic, centerfire, or rimfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches,” any “semiautomatic handgun with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds,” and any semi-automatic handgun that has a threaded barrel.

•Requires owners of existing “assault weapons” to register them with the federal government under the National Firearms Act (NFA). The NFA imposes a $200 tax per firearm, and requires an owner to submit photographs and fingerprints to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), to inform the BATFE of the address where the firearm will be kept, and to obtain the BATFE’s permission to transport the firearm across state lines.

•Prohibits the transfer of “assault weapons.” Owners of other firearms, including those covered by the NFA, are permitted to sell them or pass them to heirs. However, under Feinstein’s new bill, “assault weapons” would remain with their current owners until their deaths, at which point they would be forfeited to the government.

•Prohibits the domestic manufacture and the importation of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The 1994 ban allowed the importation of such magazines that were manufactured before the ban took effect. Whereas the 1994 ban protected gun owners from errant prosecution by making the government prove when a magazine was made, the new ban includes no such protection. The new ban also requires firearm dealers to certify the date of manufacture of any >10-round magazine sold, a virtually impossible task, given that virtually no magazines are stamped with their date of manufacture.

•Targets handguns in defiance of the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects the right to have handguns for self-defense, in large part on the basis of the fact handguns are the type of firearm “overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose.” Semi-automatic pistols, which are the most popular handguns today, are designed to use detachable magazines, and the magazines “overwhelmingly chosen” by Americans for self-defense are those that hold more than 10 rounds. Additionally, Feinstein’s list of nearly 1,000 firearms exempted by name (see next paragraph) contains not a single handgun. Sen. Feinstein advocated banning handguns before being elected to the Senate, though she carried a handgun for her own personal protection.

•Contains a larger piece of window dressing than the 1994 ban. Whereas the 1994 ban included a list of approximately 600 rifles and shotguns exempted from the ban by name, the new bill’s list is increased to nearly 1,000 rifles and shotguns. Other than for the 11 detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifles and one other semi-automatic rifle included in the list, however, the list appears to be pointless, because a separate provision of the bill exempts “any firearm that is manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action.”

The Department of Justice study. On her website, Feinstein claims that a study for the DOJ found that the 1994 ban resulted in a 6.7 percent decrease in murders. To the contrary, this is what the study said: “At best, the assault weapons ban can have only a limited effect on total gun murders, because the banned weapons and magazines were never involved in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders. Our best estimate is that the ban contributed to a 6.7 percent decrease in total gun murders between 1994 and 1995. . . . However, with only one year of post-ban data, we cannot rule out the possibility that this decrease reflects chance year-to-year variation rather than a true effect of the ban. Nor can we rule out effects of other features of the 1994 Crime Act or a host of state and local initiatives that took place simultaneously.”

“Assault weapon” numbers and murder trends. From the imposition of Feinstein's “assault weapon” ban (Sept. 13, 1994) through the present, the number of “assault weapons” has risen dramatically. For example, the most common firearm that Feinstein considers an “assault weapon” is the AR-15 rifle, the manufacturing numbers of which can be gleaned from the BATFE’s firearm manufacturer reports, availablehere. From 1995 through 2011, the number of AR-15s—all models of which Feinstein’s new bill defines as “assault weapons”—rose by over 2.5 million. During the same period, the nation's murder rate fell 48 percent, to a 48-year low. According to the FBI, 8.5 times as many people are murdered with knives, blunt objects and bare hands, as with rifles of any type.

Traces: Feinstein makes several claims, premised on firearm traces, hoping to convince people that her 1994 ban reduced the (relatively infrequent) use of “assault weapons” in crime. However, traces do not indicate how often any type of gun is used in crime. As the Congressional Research Service and the BATFE have explained, not all firearms that are traced have been used in crime, and not all firearms used in crime are traced. Whether a trace occurs depends on whether a law enforcement agency requests that a trace be conducted. Given that existing “assault weapons” were exempted from the 1994 ban and new “assault weapons” continued to be made while the ban was in effect, any reduction in the percentage of traces accounted for by “assault weapons” during the ban, would be attributable to law enforcement agencies losing interest in tracing the firearms, or law enforcement agencies increasing their requests for traces on other types of firearms, as urged by the BATFE for more than a decade.

Call Your U.S. Senators and Representative: As noted, Feinstein intends to introduce her bill on January 3rd. President Obama has said that gun control will be a “central issue” of his final term in office, and he has vowed to move quickly on it.

Contact your members of Congress at 202-224-3121 to urge them to oppose Sen. Feinstein’s 2013 gun and magazine ban. Our elected representatives in Congress must hear from you if we are going to defeat this gun ban proposal. You can write your Representatives and Senators by using our Write Your Representatives tool here: http://www.nraila.org/get-involved-locally/grassroots/write-your-reps.aspx

Millions of Americans own so-called “assault weapons” and tens of millions own “large” magazines, for self-defense, target shooting, and hunting. For more information about thehistory of the “assault weapon” issue, please visit www.GunBanFacts.com.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 112th; awb; banglist; california; cwii; democrats; fineswine; govtabuse; guncontrol; gungrabbinwitch; gunregistration; landoffruitsnuts; nocompromise; secondamendment; tyranny; waronliberty; wewillnotcomply; youwillnotdisarmus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last
To: IbJensen

Recall Diane Feinstein!!!


21 posted on 12/29/2012 9:22:33 AM PST by Ben Mugged ("Life's tough..... It's even tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibLieSlayer
FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS BITCH!

That is the way it usually works out.

22 posted on 12/29/2012 9:25:02 AM PST by itsahoot (Any enemy, that is allowed to have a King's X line, is undefeatable. (USS Taluga AO-62))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

[[“I have been working with my staff for over a year on this legislation”]]

And hte secdodn draft starts off by stating “Hi, my name is dianne and I can do whatevwer trhe hell I want because I’m a demcorat and NOONE will oppose me because there’s nooen with spine enough on the right to oppose me vigorously enough to defeat my assinine bill


23 posted on 12/29/2012 9:29:52 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Progov

[[perhaps, just perhaps this bill will fail when the charges are brought agsinst her for a bit of money laundering in the deal she made to support her husbands shady deals.]]

no no- dfederal offenses get liberals promoted, not punished-


24 posted on 12/29/2012 9:31:53 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: E. Pluribus Unum

Attach a poison rider. Sea to shining sea CCW for anybody that submits to her new background checks.


25 posted on 12/29/2012 9:36:01 AM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: DarthVader

[[Talked to a friend who works on the Hill yesterday and he said this bill is DOA.]]

Really? Because we saw from reporters who ‘talked to firneds o nthe hill’ abotu the supreme court obummercare issue and they assured everyoen that the HC measure was dead- couldn’t possibly pass because it was unconstitutional- We see how well that assurance went.

I hope you’re friend is right- But I’ve had it up to my neck with assurances by folsk like Carl Rove, Mike Barrone- rush, hannity etc who ‘assure us’ that the left can never get away with outrageous ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL crap and that there’s no way they could possibly win another 4 years etc etc etc only to stand stunend and shocked when the left DOES get away with their ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL crap- They are so above the law that it’s very possible that we have an UNQUALIFIED non natural born citizen sitting in office not jusdt for 4 years, but for a secodn term too- ThaT;s how far above thel aw these freaks are- and that’s how spineless the GOP is in allowing htem to be above the law-

Never say never when a democrat is involved and the issue is unconstitutional or illegal-


26 posted on 12/29/2012 9:39:20 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: GOP Poet

[[Who would have thought, when we were young, that we would no longer be taught the wisdom and courage of our founding Fathers and live to see them tarred and feathered as criminals by our educators. But also that we would intimately experience the exact reasons for their leaving everything behind to start a new nation]]

I certainly NEVER envisioned it- and I’ve been sayign for years that the left is tryign to enstate the exact same conditions which our forefathers fled from i nthe first place- pretty soon you may even see a state mandated relgiious system enforced on everyone- of courswe it won’t be Christianity- but some bastardized version of it that actually denies the diety of Christ and godifies the priests-

We’re in very seriosu trouble in this nation- It didn’t come abotu all at once- but in little steps here and htere uintil thsoe breakign the cosntituion learned that the peopel were NOT willing to fight them on it, then they became more and more blatantr and brazen- until we’re now at hte point where the left simply shoves their blatantly unconstitutional laws in our faces and dares us to do somethign about it knowing of course that we won’t- We’ve saty as a nation as the left has taken one right after another away from us- and watched as the left grantedm ore andm ore ‘rights’ to criminals and illegals-

It’s absoltely stunning how far this coutnry has sunk under these skunks! Everythign our foundign fathers dreamed of has been disrespected and thrown away like refuse- Millions of americans have died in vain defending our liberty and freedoms- Sure, we’re not quite as bad as brittain or europe, but we’re damn close and rapidly cvatchign up


27 posted on 12/29/2012 9:47:37 AM PST by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

Feinstein, along with the Democrats and the MSM, is determined that the rest of the country become mirror-images of CA, Detroit and Chicago. Not while the rest of us draw breath!


28 posted on 12/29/2012 9:54:18 AM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen
Don't be caught off guard! This bill is not designed to pass in entirety, but politicians will find some portion acceptable as a “compromise”. Once a small portion is enacted, they'll be back for more. The only hope of gun owners is to shoot down the entire bill. Not one single item should be allowed to pass. This is vitally important for a free United States if we are to exist. Too many of our freedoms have already been lost by this “chipping away” process.
29 posted on 12/29/2012 10:17:31 AM PST by Boomer One
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen
"Feinstein wants to be the one who pens another piece of convoluted legislation designed to enslave Americans."

It's going nowhere, she has no popular support, and the Dems aren't stupid enough to push it.

That said, give 'em hell. We need to find a way to return America to the principles that made her great!

30 posted on 12/29/2012 10:28:45 AM PST by PreciousLiberty (Pray for America!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

Received this in an email. Don’t know how accurate it is....

CIVIL WAR IS COMING
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and
said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as
long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every
nation a veto. The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S.
State Department, overturns the position of former President George W.
Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that
national controls were better. On Wednesday Obama Took the First Major
Step in a Plan to Ban All Firearms in the United States.

The Obama administration intends to force gun control and a complete ban
on all weapons for US citizens through the signing of international
treaties with foreign nations. By signing international treaties on gun
control, the Obama administration can use the US State Department to
bypass the normal legislative process in Congress. Once the US Government
signs these international treaties, all US citizens will be subject to
those gun laws created by foreign governments. These are laws that have
been developed and promoted by organizations such as the United Nations
and individuals such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. The laws are
designed and intended to lead to the complete ban and confiscation of all
firearms. It will never happen! The Obama administration is attempting to
use tactics and methods of gun control that will inflict major damage to
our 2nd Amendment before US citizens even understand what has happened.
Obama can appear before the public and tell them that he does not intend
to pursue any legislation (in the United States) that will lead to new gun
control laws, while cloaked in secrecy, his Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton is committing the US to international treaties and foreign gun
control laws.

Does that mean Obama is telling the truth? What it means is that there
will be no publicized gun control debates in the media or votes in Congress.
We will wake up one morning and find that the United States has signed
a treaty that prohibits firearm and ammunition manufacturers from selling
to the public.

We will wake up another morning and find that the US has signed a treaty
that prohibits any transfer of firearm ownership. And then, we will wake
up yet another morning and find that the US has signed a treaty that
requires US citizens to deliver any firearm they own to the local
government collection and destruction center or face imprisonment. This is
not a joke nor a false warning. As sure as government health care will be
forced on us by the Obama administration through whatever means necessary,
so will gun control. Please forward this message to others who may be
concerned about the direction in which our country is headed. Straight
into socialism if Obama has his way... We are being led like a lamb to the
slaughter (Socialism/Dictatorship).
DON’T KEEP THIS - SEND IT OUT TO YOUR LIST


31 posted on 12/29/2012 10:35:24 AM PST by csmusaret (I will give Obama credit for one thing- he is living proof that familiarity breeds contempt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

32 posted on 12/29/2012 10:44:22 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: csmusaret

>> Received this in an email. Don’t know how accurate it is....

>> CIVIL WAR IS COMING
>> WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Reuters? Definitely not news/wire text.


33 posted on 12/29/2012 11:47:35 AM PST by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: ExTexasRedhead

that would be KAPO and most libtard jews are just that.


34 posted on 12/29/2012 11:52:22 AM PST by bravo whiskey (“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

Dear Dis-honorable Senator Feinswine,

Rot in hell you traitorous bitch!

Signed,

Patriotic Americans who Believe in the Constitution


35 posted on 12/29/2012 11:55:03 AM PST by ohioman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

She’s including the kitchen sink so that the gun-grabbers can eliminate a few of their most outrageous demands (banning the Ruger 10/22, for example), and still appear “reasonable”. They may be able to re-instate the former “Assault Rifle” and large magazine ban, but I think any attempt to force registration of already owned guns would be a violent failure.


36 posted on 12/29/2012 11:55:24 AM PST by ozzymandus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IbJensen

From every indicator, talking point, and description that could be wringed out of this obfuscating language, (and I’m a writer - so I KNOW how to twist words), there is one current of thought here.

OL’ FEINSTEIN WANTS US ALL TO GO —COWBOY— !

You will NOT find one, no not one, allusion to anything that could fit any description of a lever action rifle! Even the beloved ‘Trapper’ styles, including those made by Rossi in revolver calibers, are over the 30 inch length limitiation! There is only model of revolver, that was any way near ‘automatic’, and it hasn’t been made in the recent past, and that was a British Webley, at that! So, to sum up darling Feinstein’s hopes, she wishes to take away anything that is not manually operated. So, GEAUX COWBOY, young man!

Just for the fun of it, go to Hickok45 on YouTube and look up, “45-70 Rifles Heavy Lead”. Ya might just think that they are not os ‘obsolete’, as some would have you think!

The author of the piece at the top has the information, concerning WHICH ‘M1’ wrong. It was NEVER, the ‘M1 Carbine’, that was used at markmanship competitions. It is THE M1 Garand. The M1 Carbine was NEVER designed to be ‘a thousand yard rifle’, as the M1 Garand still does. The ‘Carbine’ uses a ‘magazine’, which Feinstein just loves. The Garand uses a ‘clip’, an ‘Enbloc clip’, of only eight rounds, to be exact. (Which still defies her listing, too!)

Lever Action Rifles ... the ‘politically correct’ urban assault firearm!


37 posted on 12/29/2012 11:58:35 AM PST by Terry L Smith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red6

She’s pandering to her benefactors in Red China. She carried herself at one point.


38 posted on 12/29/2012 12:06:32 PM PST by ez (When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: itsahoot

If they want to kill me... bring it on. I am old enough to no longer care... as long as I die in a cause that will save this once great republic. Let that whore try... there are far more of us than them. When I say something... I damn well mean it.

LLS


39 posted on 12/29/2012 1:14:28 PM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: mylife

I will resist.

LLS


40 posted on 12/29/2012 1:16:33 PM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson