Democrats led by California Sen. Adam Schiff have introduced the newest incarnation of U.S. Senate legislation aimed at banning so-called “assault weapons,” but according to one gun rights attorney in the Pacific Northwest is already calling it “the Assault Weapon Ban to Nowhere.”
Schiff appeared at a presser Wednesday, flanked by colleagues Senators Alex Padilla of California, and Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. A Schiff news release lists 37 Democrat co-sponsors, including perennial anti-gun Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Schiff’s event was broadcast on C-SPAN.
Rep. Lucy McBath has a companion bill in the House which she says has 100 co-sponsors, according to Fox News.
The 126-page bill includes a 96-page roster of all the firearms which are exempted from the proposed ban.
Like other gun ban bills preceding it, this new measure makes it unlawful to “import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a semiautomatic assault weapon.” It also says the ban “shall not apply to the possession, sale, or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon otherwise lawfully possessed under Federal law on the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025” or “to the possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise lawfully possessed on or before the date of enactment of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2025,” as noted by Fox.
In a lengthy press release from Schiff’s office, the Golden State senator declares, “I’m honored to carry on the legacy of Dianne Feinstein, and work to ban these weapons that have led to the most terrible mass casualty events in our communities. The time to act on this life-saving legislation is now — not tomorrow, not next week, and not when the next tragedy strikes.”
The late Sen. Feinstein, a career anti-gunner, led the effort to ban modern semi-auto firearms back in 1994, but that law sunsetted ten years later and was not re-authorized. Passage of the ban, part of the Clinton Crime Bill, led to the disastrous mid-term elections of November 1994 in which more than 50 Democrats were thrown out of office by a massive turnout of gun owners at the polls. Republicans led by Rep. Newt Gingrich took control of Capitol Hill and held it for several years.
While Schiff’s new version of the ban may alarm some in the gun rights community, Washington state-based civil rights attorney William Kirk, president at Washington Gun Law, quickly posted his reaction on YouTube, in which he observed, “The likelihood…that this bill would ever go anywhere is, what, slim, none? Slim’s out of town.”
Schiff’s press release is loaded with anti-gun rhetoric, and the legislation—according to Kirk—does an important thing. It reminds firearm owners just how extreme the anti-gun agenda has become. So do the quotes from Schiff’s co-sponsors.
“Assault weapons are designed for one thing: to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible,” Sen. Murphy said. “These are weapons of war that have no place in our communities, and it’s long past time we treated them that way.”
“Assault weapons have only one practical purpose – to slaughter human beings,” Blumenthal asserted. “These military-style combat weapons are designed to maximize death and destruction. No self-respecting hunter uses one. Assault weapons have brought bloodshed and carnage to our streets and our schools. Guns don’t respect state boundaries, which is why we need a national solution to restricting the ownership and use of the mass shooter’s weapon of choice.”
“California has shown that an assault weapons ban is a commonsense safeguard that saves lives, and it’s long overdue for Congress to follow suit,” said Senator Padilla. “Military-grade assault weapons have no place in our communities — not in schools, not in places of worship, and not anywhere outside the battlefield. Americans are tired of excuses and empty talking points from the far-right and the gun lobby. We need action to end the gun violence epidemic, and we need it now.”
It is the same rhetoric from the past, as the firearms targeted by the ban are demonized as “military grade,” which they are not.
The National Rifle Association reacted with a message posted on “X.”
“Anti-gun lawmakers insist their push to ban ‘assault weapons’ isn’t about the Second Amendment,” NRA said. “Let’s be honest — that’s exactly what it’s about. And it’s about disarming law-abiding Americans.”
