President Trump Asks Dianne Feinstein to Add ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban to School Safety Bill

President Trump asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to add her “assault weapons” ban to the overarching school safety bill during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.

Feinstein’s bill, which is an enhanced reintroduction of a bill she has put forward again and again, bans over 200 different firearms.

During Wednesday’s White House meeting, Trump showed support for the gun control pushed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). The Manchin/Toomey bill is a gun control bill that the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected on April 17, 2013. But Trump chalked that failure up to Barack Obama’s lack of leadership, and talked of using the Manchin/Toomey bill as a base to which other bills could be added.

The goal was to create a body of gun legislation, ubiquitously for the purposes of school safety.

Sen. Feinstein talked about her bill and described the AR-15 as one of “the latest and newest weapons” to hit our streets. However, Eugene Stoner designed the AR-15 in the 1950s and Armalite began producing the gun during the 1960s. Are weapons from 60 years ago now considered “latest and newest”?

Nonetheless, Trump listened to Feinstein, heard from a few more gun control proponents—including Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL)—then looked back at Feinstein and told her she should add her bill to the Manchin/Toomey bill for consideration.

AWR Hawkins is an award winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for the Breitbart News.  He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.