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California

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein vows to introduce assault-weapons ban on first day of new session

LOS ANGELES -- Bills to return a ban on assault weapons in the United States will be introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives on the first day they are in session next month, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein vowed on national television today.

"We've tried to take my bill from '94 to 2004 and perfect it," the California Democrat said on the NBC "Meet The Press" program.

Feinstein authored a federal ban on assault weapons in 1994, a ban that was allowed to expire by Congress during the George W. Bush administration. On NBC today, Feinstein agreed with gun control proponent Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor, who said he wants "weapons of war off the streets of our cities."

On the NBC program, California's senior senator said her lawyers have carefully crafted a constitutional bill that will "exempt over 900 specific weapons that will not ... fall under the bill."

She said the 1994 assault rifle bill that she wrote was never challenged in court by the National Rifle Association.

"Back in '93, when I told Joe Biden who was chairman of the Judiciary Committee that I was going to move this as an amendment on the Crime Bill, he laughed at me," Feinstein said.

"He said, `you're new here. Wait till you learn'," Feinstein related. "And we got it through the Senate, we got it through the House, the White House came alive and ... the bill was passed."

The NRA has declined to comment on gun issues since Friday's slaying of 20 grade school children and seven adults in Connecticut.

Police have said the children were shot multiple times in rapid succession, but have not said if the murder weapons had been in automatic mode -- -- illegal under current laws, or semi-automatic mode -- possibly illegal under the 1994 law.

Feinstein, who just won her fourth Senate election, was propelled to the forefront of California politics when she suddenly became mayor of San Francisco when two politicians were murdered there in 1978. She has been a leading voice for gun control since then.

Feinstein's quotes were transcribed by NBC News.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22204668/u-s-sen-dianne-feinstein-vows-introduce-assault

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Indiana

Indiana man with 47 guns arrested after school threat

Associated Press

CEDAR LAKE, Ind. -- A northern Indiana man who allegedly threatened to "kill as many people as he could" at an elementary school near his home was arrested by officers who later found 47 guns and ammunition hidden throughout his home.

Von. I. Meyer, 60, of Cedar Lake, was arrested Saturday after prosecutors filed formal charges of felony intimidation, domestic battery and resisting law enforcement against him. He was being held Sunday without bond at the Lake County Jail, pending an initial hearing on the charges, police said in a statement.

Cedar Lake Police officers were called to Meyer's home early Friday after he allegedly threatened to set his wife on fire once she fell asleep, the statement said.

Meyer also threatened to enter nearby Jane Ball Elementary School "and kill as many people as he could before police could stop him," the statement said. Meyer's home is less than 1,000 feet from the school and linked to it by trails and paths through a wooded area, police said.

Police said in the statement that they notified school officials and boosted security at all area schools Friday -- the same day 26 people, including 20 students, were shot and killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

On Saturday, officers served warrants at Meyer's home and arrested him. The statement said police had learned that Meyer kept many weapons in his older, two-story home and "is a known member of the Invaders Motorcycle Gang." Officers searched the home, finding 47 guns and ammunition worth more than $100,000 hidden throughout the home. Many of the weapons were collector's guns.

Cedar Lake is about 45 miles southeast of Chicago.

A dispatcher with Cedar Lake Police said that the police chief was not available for interviews until Monday.

Lake County police spokeswoman Patti Van Til said Sunday that a SWAT team from the department assisted in serving Saturday's warrants.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_22204171/indiana-man-47-guns-arrested-after-school-threat