What? Democrats have tried multiple times to reinstate the ban on assault weapons since it expired in 2004. From Wikipedia:
The assault weapons ban expired on September 13, 2004.
Legislation to renew or replace the ban was proposed numerous times unsuccessfully.
Between May 2003 and June 2008, U.S. Senator
Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, and Representatives
Michael Castle, R-DE,
Alcee Hastings, D-FL, and
Mark Kirk, R-IL, introduced bills to reauthorize the ban.[SUP]
[38][/SUP] During the same time, Senator
Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, and Representative
Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY, introduced similar bills to create a new ban with a revised definition for assault weapons. None of the bills left committee.[SUP]
[39][/SUP]
After the
November 2008 election, the website of
President-elect Barack Obama listed a detailed agenda for the forthcoming administration. The stated positions included "making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent."[SUP]
[40][/SUP] Three months later, newly sworn-in
Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated the
Obama administration`s desire to reinstate the ban.[SUP]
[41][/SUP] The mention came in response to a question during a joint press conference with
DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, discussing efforts to crack down on
Mexican drug cartels. Attorney General Holder said: "... there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons."[SUP]
[42][/SUP]
Efforts to pass a new federal assault weapons ban were made in December 2012 after the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.[SUP]
[43][/SUP][SUP]
[44][/SUP][SUP]
[45][/SUP] On January 24, 2013, Senator Feinstein introduced
S. 150, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (AWB 2013).[SUP]
[46][/SUP] The bill was similar to the 1994 ban, but differed in that it would not expire after 10 years,[SUP]
[45][/SUP] and it used a one-feature test for a firearm to qualify as an assault weapon rather than the two-feature test of the defunct ban.[SUP]
[47][/SUP] The GOP Congressional delegation from Texas, and the NRA, condemned Feinstein`s bill.[SUP]
[48][/SUP] On March 14, 2013, the
Senate Judiciary Committee approved a version of the bill along party lines.[SUP]
[49][/SUP] On April 17, 2013, AWB 2013 failed on a Senate vote of 40 to 60.[SUP]
[50][/SUP]
