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Feinstein Introduces Massive Semi-AutoFirearm and Magazine Ban

On Jan. 24, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced S. 150, her long-anticipated bill to ban "assault weapons" and "large" magazines.Contrary to media claims that Feinstein wants to "reinstate" the 1994ban, the bill will go much further toward her stated long-term goal ofgun confiscation, imposing a host of absurdly broad definitionsand onerous restrictions:

Ban the sale, transfer, manufacture or importation of 157named firearms. Presumably, these were chosen by looking atpictures, as Sen. Feinstein has said she did before introducing her firstlegislation on the issue in 1993.

Ban all semi-automatic rifles that can accept a detachablemagazine. This is because the bill would ban any semi-automaticdetachable-magazine rifle that has even one "feature," particularly apistol gripwhich is defined to include any "characteristic that canfunction as a grip." Other features that would cause a rifle to bebanned include a forward grip; folding, telescoping, or detachablestock; grenade launcher or (as an absurd propaganda move) rocketlauncher; barrel shroud; or a threaded barrel.

Ban all detachable-magazine semi-auto pistols that have any

of the following: a threaded barrel, second pistol grip, or magazine thatmounts anywhere other than the grip.The bill would also ban anyhandgun that is a semi-automatic version of a fully automatichandgun.

Ban all semi-automatic rifles and handguns that have fixedmagazines that accept more then 10 rounds.

Ban all semi-automatic shotguns that have just one of thefollowing: a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; a pistol grip; afixed magazine that can accept more than five rounds, a detachable

magazine; a forward grip; a revolving cylinder; or a grenade or rocketlauncher. As with the rifle provision, this could potentially ban anysemi-auto shotgun, because all of them have "characteristics that canfunction as a grip." And of course, countless Americans have pistol-gripshotguns for home defense.

Ban all belt-fed semi-automatic firearms, such as semi-autoreplicas of historic machine guns.

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Ban all frames or receivers of banned guns, even though inmany cases they are identical to the frames and receivers of guns thatwould not be banned.

Ban "combinations of parts" from which "assault weapons"

can be assembled. Read broadly, this could ban the acquisition of asingle spare part that could be combined with parts you already own.

Ban any "part, combination of parts, component, device,attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to acceleratethe rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle"--a vague definition that couldban items such as competition trigger parts.

Ban the sale or transfer of all ammunition feeding devicesthat hold more than ten rounds. Even those lawfully possessed beforepassage of the bill could never be transferred, even to your heirs

through a will.

Though not requiring registration of currently owned firearms underthe National Firearms Act (as Feinstein threatened in December), thenew bill would go far beyond the failed 1994 semi-auto ban byrequiring background checks on the private transfer of any"grandfathered" firearm.

Finally, unlike the 1994 ban, the new bill will not include an automatic"sunset" clause, so it would remain in effect unless repealed.

In announcing the bill, Feinstein misrepresented the effectiveness ofpast semi-auto bans. For example, she claimed that Maryland's"assault pistol" ban had reduced crime. But in Maryland, the murdertrend after the state passed its ban on so-called "assault pistols" wasfar worse than in the rest of the country. Similarly, in California, duringthe first five years after passage of the state's 1989 "assault weapon"ban, the state's murder rate increased 26 percent, compared to an 11percent increase in the rest of the country. During the first five yearsafter California expanded the ban starting in 2000, the state's murderrate increased 10 percent, compared to a six percent decrease inthe rest of country.

Feinstein also misrepresented the findings of a congressionallymandated study completed by Jeffrey Roth and Christopher Koper forthe Urban Institute.

In the handouts provided by her office, Feinstein claimed the reportsaid "Assault weapons are disproportionately involved in murders withmultiple victims, multiple wounds per victim, and police officers as

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victims." But here's what the report really found:

"Some of our own analyses added evidence that assault weapons aredisproportionately involved in murders with multiple victims, multiplewounds per victim, and police officers as victims" (emphasis added),

but "We were unable to detect any reduction to date in two types ofgun murders that are thought to be closely associated withassault weapons, those with multiple victims in a single incident andthose producing multiple bullet wounds per victim. We did find areduction in killings of police officers since mid-1995. However, theavailable data are partial and preliminary, and the trends may havebeen influenced by law enforcement agency policies regarding bullet-proof vests."

The misuse and misinterpretation of study findings has become acommon tactic of anti-gun politicians because they know that the 1994

ban had no real impact on crime. In one of the frequent moments ofcandor that make his allies cringe, Vice-President Biden admitted asmuch in an online forum Jan. 24, saying, "[I]t is true that thevast majority of gun deaths in America are not a consequence of theuse of an assault weapon" and that a ban "is not an answer to all theproblems." Nonetheless, Biden claimed the ban is a "rationallimitation" because in his opinion, people concerned about self-defenseshould just use double-barreled shotguns anyway.

Despite advice like this, Americans have voted with their pocketbooks,buying about 50 million semi-automatic firearms--including nearly 4

million AR-15 rifles--since 1991. And, since the Supreme Court saidin District of Columbia v. Heller that a handgun ban wasunconstitutional in part because "handguns are the mostpopular weaponchosen by Americans for self-defense in the home,"popular rifles should be just as firmly protected.