DEMS/GUNS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Twenty-five years ago, Democratic support for an assault weapons ban was a major reason the party lost control of the House. Now top Democrats want to revive the fight. On both the presidential campaign trail and Capitol Hill, leading Democrats are either calling to reinstate the ban or are pressing for a new one. The 1994 ban barred Americans from buying certain military-style firearms and high-capacity magazines for a decade, until Republicans let it expire in 2004. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., an architect of the original ban, and his rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination have embraced it. In an opinion article published Monday [8-12-19] in The New York Times, Mr. Biden vowed to make the 1994 law ‘even stronger,’ adding, ‘We have to get these weapons of war off our streets.’ Two centrist Democrats who beat Republicans for House seats last year — Representatives Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Jason Crow of Colorado — also spoke out on Monday in favor of a ban, with an opinion article in USA Today. Both are military veterans, and Mr. Crow ran on an aggressive platform of combating gun violence.”
–Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Democrats Want to Revive a Ban on Assault Weapons,” The New York Times online, August 12, 2019