Biden again to try to ban assault weapons

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Vice President Joe Biden, spurred by the Newtown, Conn., massacre this month, said he is fighting in Congress again to have assault weapons outlawed.

For Biden, the tragedy offers a second opportunity to write a legislative response on President Obama's behalf that, if successful in the face of a Republican-dominated and anti-gun-control House, would reinstate his assault weapons ban that expired in 1994, The New York Times reported in Washington Sunday.

In 2007, Biden tried unsuccessfully to ban the Bushmaster AR-15, the gun Adam Lanza used to kill 20 schoolchildren and six adults on Dec. 14, the Times said.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said she intends to reintroduce the assault weapons bill with broader terms, prohibiting weapons with just "one or more military characteristics."

Her measure identifies 120 guns whose manufacture and sale would be banned, and it would eliminate loopholes that might be used to bypass the law, the Times reported.