Assault Weapons

• Bill text
• Summary of the bill
• Endorsement list
• Comprehensive booklet (pdf)

On January 24, 2013, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the Assault Weapons Ban, a bill to stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

• Feinstein Statement on Assault Weapons Ban Amendment, April 17, 2013
• Assault Weapons Ban Clears Senate Judiciary Committee, March 14, 2013
• Feinstein Statement at Hearing on Assault Weapons Ban Bill, Feb. 27, 2013
• Feinstein: 886 Mayors Endorse Assault Weapons Ban, Feb. 12, 2013
• Law enforcement, doctors, educators, clergy support ban on assault weapons, Jan. 31, 2013
• New Poll Shows Strong Majority of Americans Support Assault Weapons Ban, Jan. 30, 2013
• Feinstein, Coalition Introduce Bill on Assault Weapons, High-Capacity Magazines, Jan. 24, 2013
• Feinstein to Introduce Updated Assault Weapons Bill in New Congress, Dec. 17, 2012
• Feinstein Statement on Connecticut School Shooting, Dec. 14, 2012

• MSNBC's Morning Joe, April 11, 2013
• MSNBC's Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, April 10, 2013
• CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, March 15, 2013
• MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, Feb. 25, 2013
• CNN's State of the Union, Jan. 27, 2013
• CBS's Face the Nation, Jan. 27, 2013
• Press conference, Dec. 21, 2012
• CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, Nov. 17, 2012
• PBS NewsHour with Gwen Ifill, Nov. 17, 2012
• MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, Nov. 17, 2012
• NBC’s Meet the Press with David Gregory, Nov. 16, 2012

Following are studies that have been conducted on the 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban:

• In a Department of Justice study (pdf), Jeffrey Roth and Christopher Koper find that the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban was responsible for a 6.7 percent decrease in total gun murders, holding all other factors equal. They write: “Assault weapons are disproportionately involved in murders with multiple victims, multiple wounds per victim, and police officers as victims.”
• Original source (page 2): Jeffrey A. Roth & Christopher S. Koper, “Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994,” The Urban Institute (March 1997).
• In a University of Pennsylvania study (pdf), Christopher Koper reports that the use of assault weapons in crime declined by more than two-thirds by about nine years after 1994 Assault Weapons Ban took effect.
• Original source (page 46): Christopher S. Koper, “An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003,” (June 2004).
• In a Washington Post story, reporters David Fallis and James Grimaldi write that the percentage of firearms seized by police in Virginia with high-capacity magazines dropped significantly during the Assault Weapons Ban. That figure has doubled since the ban expired.
• Original source: In Virginia, high-yield clip seizures rise. By David S. Fallis and James V. Grimaldi, Washington Post.
• In a letter to the editor in the American Journal of Public Health (pdf), Douglas Weil and Rebecca Knox explain that when Maryland imposed a more stringent ban on assault pistols and high-capacity magazines in 1994, it led to a 55 percent drop in assault pistols recovered by the Baltimore Police Department.
• Original source (pages 297-298): Douglas S. Weil & Rebecca C. Knox, "Letter to the Editor, The Maryland Ban on the Sale of Assault Pistols and High-Capacity Magazines: Estimating the Impact in Baltimore," 87 American Journal of Public Health 2, Feb. 1997, at 297-98.
• A report by the Police Executive Research Forum finds that 37 percent of police departments reported seeing a noticeable increase in criminals’ use of assault weapons since the Assault Weapons Ban expired.
• Original source (page 2): Police Executive Research Forum, "Guns and Crime: Breaking New Ground by Focusing on the Local Impact," (May 2010).

• "For Senator, Bill’s Defeat Is Personal and Political" (New York Times, April 16, 2013)
• "Editorial: The Senate’s moment on guns" (Washington Post, March 30, 2013)
• "Editorial: Americans and their Guns" (Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2013)
• "Editorial: Senate Needs to Vote on Assault Weapons" (Sacramento Bee, March 21, 2013)
• "Editorial: Failure of Feinstein's assault weapons ban can't end gun safety fight" (San Jose Mercury News, March. 20, 2013)
• "Gun control bill elicits emotional remarks," (San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 27, 2013)
• "The truth about new assault weapons ban," (Orange County Register, Feb. 24, 2013)
• "Feinstein gun bill plugs state ban holes," (San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 2, 2013)
• "Myths About Gun Regulation," (New York Times, Jan. 31, 2013)
• "Congress Takes Up Gun Violence," (New York Times, Jan. 29, 2013)
• "Sen. Feinstein rolls out gun ban measure," (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 24, 2013)
• "Lawmakers touched by gun violence take debate personally," (Reuters, Jan. 23, 2013)
• "Sen. Dianne Feinstein: 'You can’t sit back and just let the gun organizations call public policy'" (Washington Post, Jan. 16, 2013)
• "The Moment for Action on Guns" (New York Times, Jan. 15, 2013)
• "Improve semiautomatic weapons ban" (USA Today, Jan. 14, 2013)
• "Stop these tools of mass murder" (Denver Post, Jan. 10, 2013)
• "How to Get a New Assault-Weapons Ban Through Congress" (New York Times, Jan. 2, 2013)
• "A Tougher Assault Weapons Ban" (New York Times, Dec. 28, 2012)
• "NRA misleads on assault weapons" (Salon, Dec. 26, 2012)
• "Dems to push for more sweeping assault weapons ban" (Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2012)
• "A conservative case for an assault weapons ban" (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 20, 2012)
• "Obama Vows Fast Action in New Push for Gun Control" (New York Times, Dec. 19, 2012)
• "Trying, again, to ban assault weapons" (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 17, 2012)
• "Stop the sale of assault weapons" (San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 17, 2012)
• "Reason to Hope After the Newtown Rampage" (New York Times, Dec. 17, 2012)