Gun Laws & Legislation

Senate Democrats advance Feinstein’s gun control bill

Mike Piccione Editor, Guns & Gear
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The 18-member Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 along party lines Thursday to allow S.150, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Assault Weapons Ban of 2013, to go to the Senate for a vote.

In order to pass the bill in the Senate, it will require a bipartisan effort to reach 60 votes.

The bill will ban the sale, transfer, manufacturing and importation of all semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have what is defined as one military feature. Military features include: a pistol grip; forward grip; folding, telescoping or detachable stock; barrel shroud; threaded barrel; grenade or rocket launcher.

Shotguns with the same stock configurations and barrel accessories as rifles are included but the fixed magazine capacity for shotguns is reduced so that the capacity to accept more than five rounds is limited.

All ammo feeding devices (magazines) that accept more than 10 rounds are included in the bill.

In total, 157 named firearms will be banned.

The bill has a grandfather clause for all firearms lawfully possessed at the time of the bill’s enactment. Firearms that are manually operated by a bolt, pump, lever or slide action are excluded.

The bill excludes weapons used by the military, law enforcement and retired law enforcement. Antique firearms are also excluded.

Additional restrictions will include a required background check on the sale or transfer of grandfathered guns.

Magazines that fall into the restricted category will be allowed to be possessed, however the sale or transfer of these large capacity magazines will be prohibited.

The bill, if accepted for vote by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, will likely be voted upon in April. If passed millions of privately owned firearms will fall under the restrictions of the bill.

Mike Piccione