Ban on assault weapons/high-capacity magazines likely shot down

SALT LAKE CITY — A gunman kills eight people at massage parlors in the Atlanta area. Six days later, another gunman kills 10 people at a grocery store in Colorado.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the 18 murders should jolt the nation into taking action on gun control.  Namely, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammo magazines.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common-sense steps that will save the lives in the future, and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House, according to BBC News.

“This is not — it should not be — a partisan issue. This is an American issue,” he said as quoted by CNN.

Assault weapons ban of 1994

Sen. Biden helped ban assault weapons in 1994, by drafting the Senate version of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It expired a decade later.

But the president’s effort at gun control is shaping up to be a partisan issue with Democratic Sen Joe Manchin saying Tuesday he does not support background-check legislation that recently passed the House.

On March 11, the House passed a pair of bills that would expand background checks for gun purchases and would require background checks on nearly all gun purchases, including transactions involving unlicensed or private sellers, according to NBC News.

Talk it out

KSL NewsRadio host Lee Lonsberry joined Dave Noriega to talk about Biden’s plan to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. They also discussed a pair of bills that recently passed the House.

Lonsberry said the bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines will come down to one thing.  And that’s the number of votes needed to clear the 60-vote filibuster in the 50-50 Senate. The vice president, Kamala Harris, would cast the tie-breaking vote.

“There are not sufficient Republicans — you need about 10 of them to go along with all 50 Democrats — to pass legislation like this, and this is not one that Republicans will let pass,” Lonsberry said.

He pointed out that Democratic Sens. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, for example, are supportive of gun-control legislation such as universal background checks.

“[Sinema] has expressed some hesitancy to pass the types of gun legislation that are being discussed right now, but most importantly and more on point here, hesitation and a lack of desire to abolish the filibuster,” Lonsberry.

“I support the 60-vote threshold for all Senate actions. Debate on bills should be a bipartisan process that takes into account the views of all Americans, not just those of one political party,” Sinema said, according to the Arizona Republic.

Lonsberry also added that Colorado now bans high-capacity magazines containing more than 15 rounds.  

Also, almost all firearm transfers in Colorado between private parties — people who do not have a firearms dealer or other industry license — must be processed by a licensed firearms dealer and subject to a background check on the person acquiring the firearm, according to the Giffords Law Center.

Related:

Utah Sen. Mike Lee says gun control has racist roots and suppresses minorities

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, a.s well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.  

Live Mic with Lee Lonsberry can be heard weekdays from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app.