LOS ANGELES (AP) - California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday it’s unlikely that the Second Amendment could be repealed in a nation deeply divided over guns, but she hopes Congress will raise the age limit for buying firearms to 21 while banning military-style assault weapons.
Her remarks came after retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for repeal of the Second Amendment in an essay on The New York Times website.
Speaking with reporters in Los Angeles, Feinstein said there was momentum behind the push for tougher legislation in Congress to restrict gun sales, following a weekend of “March for Our Lives” protests against gun violence.
When asked about the Second Amendment repeal, the Democrat said, “I don’t think it’s possible.”
She added that reaching the threshold to alter the Constitution would be “extraordinarily difficult.”
An amendment to the Constitution can only be proposed either by Congress with a two-thirds vote in both houses or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures.
The amendment then has to be approved by three quarters of the states.
Feinstein, who is seeking her fifth, full term in the Senate, lamented the spread of gun violence in the U.S., noting that school shootings occur virtually every month in the country.
“We’re going to do something,” she promised.
She has urged Congress to strengthen background checks and ban high-capacity magazines and “bump stocks” that allow a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic weapon.
The national protest “shows that the new generation that America is going to be turned over to is simply not going to stand for it,” she said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.