Gun control likely topic for Congress

Dan Freedman
Published 10:51 pm, Saturday, December 15, 2012

Washington --

When the 113th Congress opens for business in January, gun control advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill will renew efforts to ban assault weapons and mandate background checks on all gun transactions.

There is a "high likelihood" that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will offer up an updated version of an assault weapons ban, a person familiar with her thinking said on condition of anonymity.

Feinstein sponsored a 1994 ban, which outlawed specific types of semiautomatic weapons that accept detachable magazines and have a laundry list of features such as flash suppressors, threaded barrels and bayonet holders. The ban expired in 2004.

Although the exact contents of Feinstein's new proposal have yet to be ironed out, it may be based in part on California's state law controlling semiautomatic weapons. That law, among the nation's toughest, bars most weapons with detachable magazines and a single extra feature such as flash suppressor or a folding stock ...

http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Gun-control-likely-topic-for-Congress-4122028.php