Do not despair, our fight goes on

On Wednesday, the Senate voted down a bill I authored along with 23 cosponsors that would have banned military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. I’m disappointed by this result. But I always knew it would be an uphill battle — and the battle certainly isn’t over. I believe the American people are far ahead of where their elected officials are on this issue, and I will continue to fight for a renewed ban on assault weapons.

The very fact that we’re debating gun violence is a step in the right direction.

This issue has been off limits for far too long, thanks to the oversized influence of the gun lobby. Unfortunately, I’m certain that in the coming months and years we will be confronting other incidents similar to Newtown.

The only way to begin reducing the frequency of these events is to take aim at the one common feature of all of them: the availability of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The amendment that was defeated in the Senate would have banned the future manufacture, sale, importation and possession of 157 specifically named assault weapons as well as any other semiautomatic firearm capable of accepting a detachable magazine and having at least one military characteristic.

The bill would have exempted any firearm legally owned at the time of enactment, but it would have dried up supply over time as it banned the future production and importation of these weapons.

The legislation also would have banned the manufacture, sale, importation and transfer of large-capacity ammunition magazines, such as those used in the Columbine, Virginia Tech and Tucson shootings.

The arguments against the bill were weak.

They questioned its constitutionality — even though assault bans have survived every single court challenge to their validity. They claimed the bans were based merely on “cosmetic features” — even though every law enforcement officer who testified on the bill agreed that these features are not cosmetic, but instead add directly to the lethality of the weapons.

The bottom line is that we must address the seemingly endless supply of these assault weapons.

There have been more than 460 incidents involv- ing assault weapons in the nine years since the expiration of the original federal assault weapons ban, which was the law of the land from 1994 to 2004. Those attacks left more than 380 dead and more than 450 injured.

I will carry on the fight to reinstate an assault weapon ban. And I ask the same of the American people — continue to pressure your elected officials to take action. It’s the least we can do to create a safe society for our children and grandchildren.

Dianne Feinstein is a U.S. senator from California.