Gun Laws & Legislation

Senator Feinstein Proposes Banning America’s Most Popular Rifle. Again.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Guns and Gear Contributor
Font Size:

By Larry Keane

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is at it again. She has again introduced legislation to ban the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America. She wants to bring California-style gun control to the rest of America. Here’s her problem… with 21 million background checks for the sale of a gun last year, America doesn’t want it.

Sen. Feinstein introduced S. 736, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2021. It was joined by a companion version in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1808, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.). Not a single Republican senator or representative has signed onto either bill.

The bills would be far-reaching, expanding the failed 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, also written by Sen. Feinstein and then-Sen. Joe Biden when he was a sitting Democratic senator from Delaware. He’s now in the Oval Office, with a pocketful of IOU’s to gun control groups, including his promise to not just re-enact the ban on modern sporting rifles, including the AR-15-style rifle, but also his plan he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he would confiscate them if he could.

Then vs Now

The 1994 ban included 19 specific models of AR-15 rifles. This latest version hoisted that to 205 specific models. It increased the cosmetic features by which antigun politicians seek to classify what is an “assault weapon,” when they actually have no bearing on the operating system of the firearm. The latest version would ban any rifle capable of accepting a detachable magazine and at least “one military feature,” which include innocuous accessories like threaded barrels that can accept suppressors (that protect against hearing loss and are legal in 42 states), “barrel shrouds” that keep hands from being burned, grips and adjustable shoulder stocks.

They are literally making it up as they go, just because they want to ban all guns. Josh Sugarmann, with the gun control group Violence Policy Center, struck on the term “assault weapon” in 1998 after seizing on the American public’s inability to differentiate civilian AR-15s and the military’s M-16s because of their similar appearance.

“The weapon’s menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons – anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun – can only increase the change of public support for restriction of these weapons,” Sugarmann wrote.

The latest version of the bill is equally nonsensical. The list of firearms specifically named in the ban includes shotguns and rimfire rifles. One – the Remington 1100 20-Gauge Deer Gun – literally lists the firearm as a “deer gun” and not a so-called “assault weapon.”

That’s not all. A bigger list of physical characteristics is also on the chopping block. It includes pistol braces, detachable magazines, shotguns capable of accepting detachable magazines holding more than five rounds and a “military feature” would be banned. Magazines with a carrying capacity greater than 10 rounds are listed. So too are anything with a thumbhole stock or “bullet button” that was added to rifles in California. Bump stocks, already banned by President Donald Trump, would be made illegal-er, if that’s a word.

America’s Buying Guns, Not Control

The difficulty for gun control groups is that MSR-ownership skyrocketed since 1994. NSSF estimates there are over 20 million of these rifles in circulation today and they are the most-popular selling centerfire rifle in America. They’re popular for home defense, recreational target shooting and hunting. The rifles Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Cicilline want to ban were used to stop home invasions and the murderer in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The popularity of the firearm rests primarily in its modularity. It can be easily customized to fit a wide variety of body types. It is ergonomically-designed, making it easier for novice owners to master marksmanship skills. This is why they have adjustable stocks. It’s low-recoil and offered in nearly the full spectrum of calibers and has earned the moniker of “America’s rifle.”

Sen. Feinstein and her gun control supporters benevolently offer a way for present owners of any of these “would be” banned items to keep the ones presently owned. There are just a few rules. The grandfathered firearms would be required to be stored in a locked safe, or with a locking device installed. If the owner wanted to transfer the firearm to anyone else, including family members, it would require an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification. Any of the firearms that were kept by owners would be required to display DOJ-approved production dates that would be engraved on the receivers. Any legacy magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds would require serialization but could not be transferred.

The previous Assault Weapons Ban was studied by the CDC and researchers there concluded the ban on rifles and standard magazines has no impact on the reduction of crime. The FBI’s own data show that more murders are committed with knives, fists and clubs than by rifles of all types – not just the MSR, or AR-15-style rifle.

This is a naked gun grab. At a time when firearm purchases are at record levels and public appetite for gun control is at record lows, Democrats – led by Sen. Feinstein and Rep Cicilline – choose to ignore their voters, disarm citizens and destroy Second Amendment rights. Sen. Feinstein forgets what happened the last time Democrats rammed this through with a razor-thin 52-48 vote. America voted them out and demanded back their freedom.

Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel