One of the oldest and longest-serving anti-gun U.S. Senators—California’s Dianne Feinstein—has died and while accolades are being showered by many of her colleagues and admirers, the Second Amendment community will remember her work as a gun control advocate who once told a television journalist, “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them… ‘Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ’em all in,’ I would have done it.”
Feinstein was talking about so-called “assault weapons,” the modern semiautomatic rifle that has become the most popular long gun in the country.
She was 90.
Sen. Feinstein had been in failing health for several months, and there were reports of efforts to get her to step down. She had already reportedly decided not to run for re-election and instead retire at the end of her current term. Now, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom will be tasked with naming an interim replacement.
A San Francisco native, Feinstein rose to prominence in the 1970s as the first female president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Only months after achieving that landmark, she was thrust into the spotlight when she was named to replace the assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978, who was murdered along with Supervisor Harvey Milk by a former supervisor, Dan White.
Under Feinstein, the city adopted a handgun ban in 1982 that was successfully challenged in court.
While CNN and other news agencies are providing coverage of people memorializing the late senator in the firearms community, there are memories of Feinstein being one of the leading Capitol Hill voices for stricter gun control over the past three decades. Earlier this year, Feinstein was joined by anti-gun Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, when she introduced yet another piece of legislation to ban so-called “assault weapons” and the “Age 21 Act,” which would raise the minimum age for buying semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.
As briefly noted by USA Today, “Feinstein was especially passionate about gun control. Early in her Senate career, Feinstein championed gun control advocacy by authoring the 1994 assault weapons ban which then-President Bill Clinton signed into law. Since the law expired in 2004, Feinstein spearheaded further efforts for stronger gun control legislation.”
The newspaper also notes that President Joe Biden recalls that Feinstein exhibited “skillful legislating and sheer force of will than when she turned passion into purpose and led the fight to ban assault weapons. Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties…”
Many media outlets are describing Feinstein as someone who was willing to work across the aisle to advance “progressive causes.”
According to Politico, there is mounting pressure on Newsom to name a replacement quickly. The governor has already committed to appointing a Black woman to the seat, but that could complicate the political climate in California because Rep. Barbara Lee is currently running to succeed Feinstein.
As noted by ABC News, Feinstein was California’s first female U.S. Senator, and she went on to serve six terms, initially winning a special election in 1992 to serve out the remainder of Sen. Pete Wilson’s term by defeating his Republican replacement John Seymour.
An Internet site known as Wealthy Gorilla carries some of Feinstein’s quotes including her infamous gaffe that brought laughter and eye rolls from gun owners: “When the gunman realizes that nobody else is armed, he will lay down his weapons and turn himself in … that’s just human nature.”
Feinstein was a powerful voice for liberal causes during her time on Capitol Hill. She did, however, oppose some popular liberal causes, such as government-run, single-payer health care and the so-called “Green New Deal,” according to NBC News.
But when it came to gun control, Feinstein could always be counted upon to be on the side advocating for more restrictions.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Now it is gods turn fear not he has a special place for people like her! I sure wish i could be a fly on the wall during GODS chat with her!
I met her and her husband, once, in the course of my job. She was demeaning towards him. He was henpecked. She would have died sooner, but she had not driven him into the grave, yet.
Dried-up, dusty, cobwebby…evil old cootch.
Feinstein’s staff should be arrested for abusing her corpse,
for the last three years.
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!
nothing lost in her passing. too bad it wasn’t decades earlier. satan’s got a new enforcer down there, where she belongs, i think.