Senate panel approves assault weapons ban

Ban faces difficult path through Congress

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, introducing legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

WASHINGTON  — The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved an assault weapons ban in a party -line vote that underscores how hard it will be for the measure to survive in the full Senate.

The proposal by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein was approved on a 10-8 vote today by the Democratic-controlled committee.

An assault rifle was used by the man who killed 26 elementary school students and staff in Newtown, Conn., in December. Banning the weapons is key to President Barack Obama's plan to curb gun violence.

The measure is not expected to survive in the Senate. Feinstein faces overwhelming GOP opposition and likely defections by up to six moderate Democrats facing re-election next year in Republican-leaning states in the South and West.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected a Republican effort to exempt victims of sexual assault from a proposed assault weapons ban.

The amendment's sponsor is Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn. He says letting victims of sexual abuse use weapons would help them protect themselves.

The sponsor of an assault weapons ban is conceding that she'll need lots of help from President Obama and others for the proposal to have a chance of surviving in the Senate.

“I'd like to see everybody doing more,” bill sponsor Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Wednesday when asked if she'd like more assistance from Obama. “Yes, absolutely, we need help. We have the 800-pound gorilla out there” — a reference to the potent National Rifle Association.

Obama made an assault weapons ban part of the gun curbs he proposed in January, a month after a shooter with an assault rifle killed 20 first-graders and six educators at a school in Newtown, Conn. Feinstein and others have argued that such firearms are used in a disproportionate number of mass shootings and shouldn't be available to civilians.

The prohibition has emerged as one of the most controversial of the gun restrictions being considered in Congress. Foes of barring the weapons say law-abiding citizens should not lose their Second Amendment right to own the weapons, which they say are popular for self-defense, hunting and collecting.

Feinstein's bill would also ban large-capacity ammunition magazines carrying more than 10 rounds, which she and her allies say allow shooters to inflict more casualties before pausing to reload, which is when they might be stopped. Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman, was said to have had 30-round magazines.

The measure's passage by the Judiciary panel has been a foregone conclusion for some time. It will be far more vulnerable in the full Senate, where Democrats are expected to need 60 votes for passage through the 100-member chamber. That is where the NRA and other pro-gun groups are working hard for the ban's defeat.

“We are focused on the next step of the legislative process,” Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, said Wednesday.

There are 53 Democrats plus two independents who generally side with them. Republicans seem ready to oppose the ban overwhelmingly, and Feinstein can't count on a half-dozen Democrats from Republican-leaning states who face re-election next year.

The ban also stands little chance of approval in the GOP-controlled House.

Feinstein's bill would ban semi-automatic weapons — guns that fire one round and automatically reload — that can take a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature like a pistol grip.

It specifically bans 157 named weapons. But in an effort to avoid antagonizing those who use them for sports, the measure allows 2,258 rifles and shotguns that are frequently used by hunters.

It also exempts any weapons that are lawfully owned whenever the bill is enacted.

Feinstein was a leader in passage of a 1994 ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Congress failed to renew it when it expired in 2004.

There are no definitive figures on assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition magazines in the U.S., since there are no government registries of firearms and Congress has curbed federal research on guns since the late 1990s.

When the previous assault weapons ban took effect in 1994, there were an estimated 1.5 million assault weapons and at least 25 million large-capacity magazines that were privately owned in the U.S.

Proponents of banning the weapons cite studies showing that once the assault weapons ban took hold, the portion of gun crimes using those firearms dropped by up to 72 percent in six cities surveyed. They also argue that each assault weapon taken off the streets reduces the potential for mass shootings.

Opponents cite studies showing that assault weapons have been used in fewer than 1 in 10 crimes involving firearms and argue that eliminating those weapons would put only a minor dent in gun violence. High-capacity magazines are involved in up to a quarter of gun crimes.

The Judiciary Committee has already approved three other measures expanding the requirement for background checks for gun buyers; toughening federal laws against illegal gun traffickers and those who purchase weapons for people barred from owning them; and increasing aid for school safety.