In the wake of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month, Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan says a reinstatement of the assault weapon ban would be welcome news to federal law enforcers.
Durkan, speaking to King 5-TV in Seattle, said assault firearms are “weapon[s] of war.”
“We don’t allow individuals to own grenades, to own tanks,” she said. “And an assault weapon is a weapon of war — it doesn’t have a civilian application.”
Durkan said while she is a defender of the Second Amendment and even grew up with guns, a federal ban would be an excellent law enforcement tool. Her Western District of Washington office has been involved in a number of federal firearm stings and has hauled in more than two dozen assault weapons this year.
Following the December shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 children and six adults were fatally gunned down, President Barack Obama organized a task force to deal with gun violence across the country. Obama himself has already urged Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the author of the original 1994 ban, said she’ll introduce a new proposed assault weapons ban in the next Congress. The legislation would stop the sale of more than 100 types of firearms and large ammunition devices, like magazines and drums. It would, however, have an exemption for hunters and antique weapons.
