Sen. Feinstein's assault weapons ban will face stiff resistance from some elected Democrats

Dianne Feinstein introduces her Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 legislation Thursday morning on Capitol Hill. At an emotionally charged 75-minute press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday morning, flanked by senators, representatives, mayors, police chiefs, gun-control advocates and victims of gun violence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced her new assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban to replace the 1994 ban that expired nine years ago. She was instrumental in getting that previous ban passed and has been working ever since it expired to have it reinstated.

Feinstein (and many others who spoke at the press conference) conceded that passing the ban would require a hard battle, an "uphill fight," in her words, but, "we can win this." Said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who worked with Feinstein in getting the previous ban passed, "We owe it to our constituents and our country."

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said that if the proposed ban had been in place already, the Newtown elementary school massacre in December would not have occurred. That's because the shooter's mother would not have been able to buy the semi-automatic Bushmaster rifle and 30-round magazines he used to kill 20 children and six adults. Murphy said that, contrary to some claims, the 1994 gun ban'though weaker than what Feinstein has proposed'worked to reduce gun violence. The newly proposed ban would save lives, he said. To his left was a pegboard where more than 20 of the firearms that would be prohibited were hanging.

The details of what would be banned from sale, transfer, importation or manufacturing:

' 158 specifically named military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons.

' 2,200 specifically named hunting and sporting firearms would be exempted from the ban. (In '93, that number was 375.)

' Other semi-automatic rifles and shotguns with one characteristic of military assault rifles (such as pistol grips and telescoping or folding stocks) and detachable magazines. (The earlier ban required a firearm to have at least two such features to be proscribed.)

' Magazines that can contain more than 10 rounds

' "Slide stops" that can transform a semi-automatic AR-15 and its clones into a rifle that fires rounds almost at the speed of an automatic

' Firearms with fixed magazines containing more than 10 rounds

' Firearms with 'thumbhole stocks' and 'bullet buttons.' (These features were added by manufacturers to get around the 1994 ban.)

' Unlike the expired ban, Feinstein's has no sunset provision.

(Read more about the Democratic strategy behind the proposed ban and other gun legislation ...)