The renewed push for an assault weapons ban got a boost this week when President Trump seemed to endorse it at a White House meeting with members of Congress. After the bill’s sponsor, California senator Dianne Feinstein, touted the measure, the president encouraged her to “add what you have” to an underlying gun control bill. The California Democrat reacted with a look of pure glee.
#BREAKING: Trump joins the Democrats in supporting an assault weapons ban. pic.twitter.com/J1UC8lTqRe
— Ryan Saavedra ?? (@RealSaavedra) February 28, 2018
But it’s extremely unlikely there will be any movement on Feinstein’s bill: In 2013, after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Democrats controlled the Senate 55-45, but the assault weapons ban was defeated 40-60—with 16 Democrats opposed. Nine Senate Democrats who voted against it in 2013 remain in the Senate today, and none has signed on to Feinstein’s bill in the wake of the February 14 Parkland massacre.
On Thursday, North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp defended her 2013 vote. “I thought it was overly broad,” Heitkamp told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “It included banning semi-automatics, and I actually don’t think the assault weapons ban would accomplish much.”
“I didn’t think that bill was carefully drawn,” Democratic senator Michael Bennet of Colorado told TWS. Asked if there were particular revisions that could be made to get his support, Bennet would only say: “I’d have to see the bill.”
A few Democrats who opposed Feinstein’s assault weapons ban suggested they could be open to a different version of the ban.
Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, said he’s “working with Senator [Martin] Heinrich and others on a version of the assault weapons ban I’ll be able to support.” King didn’t provide details about how his assault weapons ban would differ from Feinstein’s, saying only: “I’m more interested in functionality than I am in appearance.” New Mexico senator Martin Heinrich’s office didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Virginia’s Mark Warner, another Democrat who voted against the ban in 2013, told TWS: “We have to rethink that prohibition in light of the tragedy in Parkland, and all issues need to be on the table.”
Recently-elected Alabama Democrat Doug Jones wouldn’t say if he supported Feinstein’s assault weapons ban: “I support the debate that Senator Schumer talked about today,” he said. “I certainly support the debate on it.”
During a press conference Thursday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said: “We believe there should be a debate on assault weapons on the floor of the Senate. Not every member of our caucus will support that ban but that vast majority will.” Schumer called on Trump to get Republican senators to back the assault weapons ban, but there’s not a single Republican in the Senate—not even Maine’s Susan Collins—who voted for Feinstein’s assault weapons ban in 2013.
