US senator launches bid to ban assault weapons
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A leading Democratic senator launched a bid on Sunday to ban assault weapons in the wake of a deadly US school shooting, announcing that she will put a bill before Congress on Jan 3.
Ms Dianne Feinstein, the influential chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she believed President Barack Obama would support her legislation, also aimed at outlawing magazines carrying more than 10 bullets.
"I'm going to introduce in the Senate, and the same bill will be introduced in the House, a bill to ban assault weapons," the California lawmaker told NBC's Meet The Press program.
Ms Feinstein said she would announce the authors of the House of Representatives bill soon and vowed that carefully crafted legislation would be put before Congress on the first day of the new Congress.
