Senate drops assault weapons from gun reform bill

Democrats on Tuesday confirmed that a ban on assault weapons will not be included in a package of gun reform legislation yet to be introduced in the Senate, suggesting the measure does not have broad support in Congress.

The bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, confirmed to reporters Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will remove an assault weapons ban from a package of gun reform legislation and offer it separately as an amendment.

"I very much regret it," Feinstein said of Reid's decision. "I tried my best."

Reid's decision signals how politically volatile the issue of an assault weapons ban remains and suggests a broad package of gun reform measures would die in the Senate if it included an assault weapons ban due to lack of broad support-- something many political observers had long suggested.

Following the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Feinstein introduced legislation to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, which was first passed in 1994 under President Bill Clinton and expired in 2004.

But despite a new energy to reduce gun violence in the wake of the shooting, a ban on assault weapons remains a politically volatile issue. A vote on an assault weapons ban threatens to place vulnerable Democrats in a tough electoral position and continues to be highly unpopular among Republicans.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on March 14 passed Feinstein's bill, which would ban assault weapons as well as magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. It's passage was hailed by Democrats including President Barack Obama, who has advocated for the ban.

"These weapons of war, when combined with high-capacity magazines, have one purpose: to inflict maximum damage as quickly as possible.? They are designed for the battlefield, and they have no place on our streets, in our schools, or threatening our law enforcement officers," Obama said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/assault-weapons-ban-dropped-senate-bill-193259307--politics.html

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