WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) (C), speaks about high capacity magazines while flanked by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) (L) and other members of Congress during a news conference on December 19, 2012 in Washington, DC. Rep. McCarthy urged Congress to pass the McCarthy-DeGette bill banning assault magazines. Credit: Getty Images
House Democrats will waste no time pushing gun control legislation and plan to introduce a bill to ban the production of high-capacity magazines on the first day of the next congressional session, according to the office of Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), who is co-sponsoring the bill.
The so-called "Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act" will seek to limit magazines, belts, drums, feed strips and "similar device[s]" to 10 rounds of ammunition. While people who own high-capacity magazines and devices would be able to keep them, they would be prohibited from buying others or transferring existing ones.
"The bill would also exempt retired and current law enforcement officials who use those devices for 'purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off duty)' as well as contractors who have been licensed to carry the devices for security purposes required by federal law," The Huffington Post reports.
Following the tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn. earlier this month, calls for gun control have come from many Democratic lawmakers. Sponsors of the bill, including Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) hope the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act will be a compromise for Republicans, as opposed to an all-out assault weapons ban, which many strongly oppose.
However, Reps. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) and Chris Stewart (R-Utah) have reportedly expressed some support for a ban on high-capacity magazines.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has not said whether he would allow the bill to the floor for a full vote.
"I'm not so naïve as to think that we can pass some law that will stop a deranged person from taking a gun and shooting people…What I am interested in is making it as difficult as possible for that deranged person to shoot as many people as possible," DeGette told The Huffington Post in a recent interview.
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