Reuters/Reuters - Customers view semi automatic guns on display at a gun shop in Los Angeles, California December 19, 2012. REUTERS/Gene Blevins
Yahoo News reports
An assault weapons ban sought by President Barack Obama ran into serious trouble on Tuesday when Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged there was not enough support for it in the Senate.This is certainly no suprise, although a disappointment for sure. Maybe Obama needs to see the film Lincoln to learn how to make this happen.
It was the latest blow to the White House's gun control plans which are fading as Republicans and even some Democrats baulk at taking on the powerful gun lobby.
Less than half of the Senate backs the assault weapons ban, Reid said, which would condemn it to failure when gun control legislation comes to the floor of the chamber next month.
Prohibition on the sale of assault weapons was always the most controversial element of Obama's attempt to stem gun violence since December's massacre at a Connecticut school where 26 people died. Backed by a lobbying campaign from the National Rifle Association, many lawmakers argue that bringing back a ban that ran out in 2004 infringes Americans' constitutional right to bear arms.
"Right now," Reid told reporters, the bill by Senator Dianne Feinstein to renew the ban "has less than 40 votes" in the 100-member chamber.
What do you think?
