The Federal Assault Weapons Ban passed through Congress in the nineteen nineties.
The law expired in 2004. Since then Democrats, including Florida Senator Bill Nelson, have tried to get it reinstated but every effort has been blocked by the GOP", said Nelson. "Senator Nelson says the tragic killing of so many young children and educators in Connecticut is changing the conversation in Washington.
“I think this might have some impetus behind doing the bill again.”
But many conservatives strongly oppose the assault weapons ban…arguing that people commit crimes, weapons don’t. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio says he’s “skeptical” that changing laws can prevent future killings.
“There’s a lot of questions to be answered and I think, without prejudging it, what we are going to learn is that guns was only part of what happened here and that there were other factors at play. But we need to learn more from it", said Rubio. "But like everyone else I’m just shell-shocked by it, really haunted by it.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin hearings on gun-control in January.