Gun Rights Advocates Gather Outside Senator Feinstein's SF Office
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— A handful of gun rights supporters gathered in front of California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein's San Francisco office to protest her proposed assault weapons ban.
The long-time senator faces an uphill battle as the Democratic Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee did not endorse the proposal at a packed Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday.
Some women who are advocates for guns came out from both coasts to denounce the legislation, including Tiffany Ruegner of Sacramento.
"Dianne Feinstein is not trying to protect children; rather she is trying to take away my 2nd Amendment, my Bill of Rights," Ruegner said.
Feinstein defended her bill before the committee and cited recent mass shootings in public places, most notably the Newtown, Connecticut shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"We actually exempt over 2,000 specific weapons by make and model name, to create and then ban about 158 assault weapons," Feinstein said.
Gun Rights Advocates Gather Outside Senator Feinstein's SF Office In Protest
Gayle Trotter, a senior fellow at the conservative Independent Women's Forum, also testified.
"If we ban these types of assault weapons, you are putting women at a great disadvantage, more so than men, because they do not have the same type of physical strength to defend themselves in a hand-to-hand struggle. And they're not criminals, they're moms, they're young women," Trotter said.
Feinstein countered and said the AR-15 gun Trotter was referring to in her testimony, is not made for home defense.
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