And yes in my case that means I will have to pony up $1200 for the six "assualt weapons" I own which includes two family heirlooms an M1 carbine and a M14 both handed down from my father who purchased them from the CMP in the 1960's and both banned under this bill.

This legislation is full of holes and quite a burden on American families. I have never been more concerned for my freedoms than now. What would any of these measures have done to stop this killer in Newtown? If you limit the clips to 10 rounds he could have purchased more clips. If you register you gun (which in Connecticut you do) how would that have stopped him from killing his mother and taking it? And would not having a flash hider or bayonet lug have stopped him or a $200 tax stop him? Hell No! The only way to have stopped him would have been to have identified his illness in time to properly have treated it. Wake up America before it's too late!

Hunter, good points. I support reasonable restrictions on firearms. Background checks, mandatory training for first purchasers (free), and a limitation on magazine capacity for rifles greater than .22 Magnum caliber and all pistols. But the bottom line is that guns are tools and everything is subject to misuse. We can limits some of their utility for misuse.

Feinstein's bill doesn't stand a snowball's chance in an oven. Too many restrictions, too many requirements and cost is prohibitive. And any requirement for current owners of "assault rifles" to resgister them and pay $200 each is foolish, unenforceable (except at tremendous finanical and legal cost) and prohibited by the 2nd Amendment.

I agree with you guys here this bill goes to far! Hunter is correct in that this would have done nothing to stop the Newtown Killer! Gun_Nut is correct in that this will be a giant erosion of the 2nd Amendment and just another money grab by another flaming liberal. Bryant is correct in saying reasonable restrictions should be in place but this bill is not reasonable.

FYI: A recent voluntary gun buyback in California netted two RPG's (rocket propelled grenade launchers)!

Rocket launchers are also "tools."

Clearly, we can do better.

Whatever approach we take will result in higher taxes or costs--- unless we all adopt the Texas vigilante response.

Fly RPG's are controlled under the NFA (National Firearms Act) and requires licenses and costs much beyond what most of us can afford. So if two were turned in I would say it was either (A) illegally owned items or (B) a planted item for the cameras.

FYI to legally own an RPG or fully automatic weapon requires 1. a $200 tax stamp 2. a Class III ATF dealer license or LEO use 3. a Federal background check with application approval by the FBI and finally 4. at least $10,000 because that is the starting price for most of these weapons.

So given this difficulty of purchase you can see where my skepticism would come from.

Fly, I disagree that whatever steps are taken will increase costs or taxes (at least not to the general public. And we don't need to use outlandish examples such as RPGs. There are enough fairly common examples to suffice for a reasonable discussion. Now, if you want to argue about the definition of "reasonable", that's an entirely different kettle of fish.

Bryant, I was referring to the recent proposal to provide armed guards for schools. Yes, the RPG example is outrageous but so are some of the glaring loopholes in the law ( Does anyone really need a 50 cal rifle?) --- and better record keeping and training will mean additional costs borne by gun owners or the general public. There is no free lunch.

I'm all for some semblance of reason in this debate--- a faint hope given the emotionalism that surrounds the topic.Given the very many Ted Nugent types, the power of the NRA and the economic clout of a multimillion-dollar gun industry, I think we can expect little change.

The peaceful devolution of power has always been one of the great strengths of this country ,but a number of gun advocates seem to insist that guns are needed to depose a tyrannical government--something that I find disturbing. We do not need such self-styled Minute Men.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the gun debate is just one part of the growing ossification of this country--- we are paralyzed by our dysfunction ,so we we do nothing. We are so fearful of any change that we are in great danger of losing the dynamism that has been the hallmark of this great country.So far we have been unwilling to address any part of the problem: mental health, the state of the nation's schools, the vast reservoir of the angry and the disaffected.

We can quail in the darkness ,or we can demonstrate the courage and civic engagement to make the hard choices that societies must make to move forward. It is as simple as that.

theflyonthewall you make some good points about having a reasonable debate but some of the examples you use are not constructive. The RPG, my 50 cal blackpowder rifle and the such!

Real change; change for the good of all of us can only come from the moderates not all of these far flung off the wall proposals out there.

Watchman, I also have a 50 cal black powder muzzle- loader.The rifle I mentioned is NOT a black powder rifle ,but a modern semiauto sniper rifle for sale to the general public. Type in 50 cal on Youtube to see what I mean. A short clip depicted a shooter who was almost killed from a ricochet. Several others should give anyone a clear idea of the destructive power of this "tool."

The 50 cal is a terrorist's dream with the capability to bring down an airliner or immolate a gasoline tanker truck.Unless a hunter is shooting grizzlies or elephants, there is no need for this. Some of the off-the-wall proposals are not so off-the-wall upon further examination.

Fly, Charlie.

I beg to disagree with you.

Today at 07:01 you said, "The rifle I mentioned is NOT a black powder rifle ,but a modern semiauto sniper rifle for sale to the general public."

Yesterday at 16:11 you said, "( Does anyone really need a 50 cal rifle?)"

You did not specify a type of firearm (black powder or semi auto) you just mentioned a caliber. Very ambiguous language. Many people who know nothing about guns would agree with you that we need to "Ban .50 cal 'cuz nobody needs that". They would never consider the huge difference between a blackpowder .50 cal and a semi-auto .50 sniper rifle.

Truth is, as a gun owner, this inprecise language is what scares me - the law might intend one thing, but open the door for a whole lot of unintended things

Charlie you make a good point. Too many times I listen to the News Media or Politicians speak of banning Automatic weapons as if we had automatic weapons on the street which for the most part we don't. Full automatic weapons are restricted the very few in this country. Of course what these people are really talking about is semi-automatics.

Semi-automatics fire once when the trigger is pulled while full automatics continue to fire as long as the trigger is pulled. A not so subtle difference in my opinion; many of these much maligned “autos” like many shotguns can only fire three times before they are out of ammo and have to be re-loaded. Plus a practiced shooter can accurately fire a pump action almost as fast as a semi-auto so I guess after we get rid of semi-auto’s pumps would be next. All this ban talk is another case of treating the symptom and not the disease.

flowmaster, Charlie.

Yep, I have an older pump shotgun that holds 6+1. It has made the list before as an "assault weapon."

Yeah right. The dang thing is almost 5ft long.

Yep picture fat ol me in cammies jumping over a police barricade like Rambo with a long gun like that. Fearsome - NOT!

But does it have a purpose - yes. I can hunt birds at a longer range than most bird guns... with a plug of course to keep the game warden happy and give the birds a chance.