Sen. Feinstein's Assault Weapons Ban Amendment is DOA

Well, any conservative could have seen this coming, despite the incessant rambling of anti-gun zealots calling for a ban on so-called assault weapons.  The first ban had a de minimis effect on lowering violent crime, and Democrats paid a heavy political price during the ’94 midterms for it.  Now, the Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe reports today that this anti-gun provision is dead on arrival. Furthermore, it’s not included in the official bill, but as an amendment to it.

Instead of including the assault weapons ban in the final bill, Feinstein said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has told her she can introduce it as an amendment to the full bill — fulfilling his promise to hold an up-or-down vote on the measure. A separate vote will be held on an amendment to limit the size of ammunition clips, she said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chief sponsor of the ban, said Tuesday that her proposal won’t be included as part of a bill encompassing several proposals that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved last week and that the Senate is expected to begin debating when it returns from a two-week recess in early April.

In addition to the assault weapons ban, the Judiciary Committee approved a bipartisan proposal to make gun trafficking a federal crime; a bipartisan bill to expand a Justice Department grant program that provides funding for school security; and a Democratic proposal to expand the nation’s gun background check program.

Reid said later Tuesday, however, that the amendment has no chance of passing. “Right now her amendment, using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. I — that’s not 60,” Reid said. “I have to get something on the floor so we can have votes on that issue and the other issues that I’ve talked about. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

“Obviously I was disappointed” when she heard the news, Feinstein told reporters Tuesday.

“The enemies on this are very powerful, I’ve known that all my life,” Feinstein added, referring to the National Rifle Association. “But I’m confident this bill would be constitutional.”

So, in the Democratic-controlled Senate, Feinstein’s amendment couldn’t even muster forty votes!  That means there’s at least sixteen Democratic Senators, who said to the gentlelady from California “no thanks” to her proposal.

This is an interesting takeaway since last January new outlets, like Bloomberg, were touting that America was “ever so falling out of love with guns.”  Joshua Green penned the column, and noted that “the course has been set, and the taboo on gun control lifted.”  Yeah, Mr. Green – Americans still like their guns, their Second Amendment rights, and for government to leave them alone.