Anti-gun U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has begun moving on legislation that would ban the sale of so-called “high-capacity magazines” and “assault weapons” to adults under the age of 21. She previously backed a similar bill in 2018, co-sponsored with Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, but that measure died in committee.
“If you’re too young to purchase a handgun, you shouldn’t be able to buy an assault rifle,” said Sen. Feinstein. “It’s common sense to prevent the sale of deadly assault weapons to individuals who aren’t even allowed to buy a beer. This isn’t a fix-all bill, but it closes a gaping loophole in federal gun safety laws, and I hope the Senate will act on it swiftly.”
The myths of “high-capacity” magazines (which in most cases hold an appropriate amount of ammunition for the firearm’s purpose) and “assault weapons” (a meaningless term usually used for any semi-automatic rifle that looks scary) have been sufficiently debunked in these pages and need no further attention here. Feinstein will be left behind by history if she continues to hammer on these outdated anti-gun tropes—but that doesn’t mean that the threat she poses to Second Amendment freedoms is one we can afford to ignore.
