Assault rifle ban: Hearing room is packed, not everyone will get to speak

Sen. Adam Kline is opening up the hearing on a bill to ban assault rifles. He said so many people are signed up, not everyone will have a chance to speak. But, he said, the pro and con sides will have equal time.

Here is the bill.

“At the federal level, we’ve banned machine guns. This is a reasonable extension of that ban… the bill is patterned after the federal assault ban,” Kline said. He said it “simply bans a subset of semi-automatics.” The aim: “Those semi-automatics that have such characteristics … that make it more lethal than your ordinary deer rifle,” he said — to jeers from some in the crowd.

Kline told the crowd that the mother of a 17-year-old who was killed by an assault rifle would be testifying today, and asked that the crowd show some respect.

Tags: assault rifle ban