Judiciary Committee clears assault weapons ban for full Senate consideration in 10-8 party-line vote

Three months to the day after 26 students and educators were murdered in Newtown, Connecticut, Sen. Dianne Feinstein displayed a rare bit of public temper in response to comments by Sen. Ted Cruz during discussions Thursday in the Senate Judiciary Committee on proposed amendments to a bill that would ban 157 military-style assault weapons. "I'm not a sixth grader," the four term senator from California said as she sarcastically thanked the freshman senator from Texas for lecturing her on the Constitution. She later apologized after the bill was approved without amendments for full Senate consideration. The vote was 10-8, strictly along party lines.

Here is a summary of the bill and here is the full text.

Four amendments introduced by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas failed. These would have allowed purchases of assault weapons by women covered by domestic violence protective orders as well as Americans in rural areas and along the border with Mexico. Cornyn said that he was pushing these amendments because the assault weapons ban "jeopardizes the self-defense of law-abiding citizens" based on cosmetic features of the weapons the bill proscribes. Under the bill, he said, criminals would have the banned weapons while "law-abiding citizens" would be left with a "pea-shooter."

What should be done, he said, is to focus on enforcing existing laws and working harder to keep all guns out of the hands of dangerously mentally ill people. He did not point out that the National Rifle Association has worked diligently to cut budgets needed to enforce those existing laws.

Feinstein called the amendments an effort to "nip and tuck" the proposed ban. She noted that it specifically exempts 2,271 weapons and those are plenty good enough for self-defense.

Feinstein has been engaged in seeking stronger gun-control measures for 35 years, since the day a disgruntled Dan White walked past her San Francisco Board of Supervisors' office and gunned down Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, one of the nation's first openly gay elected officials. His weapon of choice was a six-shot .38 caliber revolver, the standard-issue police sidearm at the time. Since then, most police departments throughout the nation have adopted semi-automatic pistols with magazines holding up to 15 rounds as a response to the heavier firepower they encounter on the street. Except for police, the assault weapons ban would also limit the capacity of magazines for any firearm to 10 rounds or less.

Although the bill has now cleared its first hurdle, many observers, both supporters and opponents, don't think it will pass. One of those is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Republicans hold a majority of the House and few of them can be expected to vote for the bill, even if it does get through the Senate. And even that is, at best, an iffy thing.

Sen. Pat Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said last week that he has some reservations.

"I have some problems with an overall legislation, but I'm going to go vote for it to get the matter out and [send it to] the floor so it's not just those of us in this room will get a chance to talk about it or act on it but the whole Senate'all hundred of us.

Other Democrats, notably Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Max Baucus of Montana, are known opponents of an assault weapons ban. And, in the past, so has been Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader who will be shepherding Feinstein's proposal through the Senate. Given that a Republican filibuster is highly likely, none of them may even get a chance to vote on the bill.

Here is the exchange among Cruz, Feinstein and others: