DENVER — A bill banning 13 types of "assault weapons" won a party-line 7-3 vote in the House Judiciary Committee.
The panel began reviewing House Bill 1292 Tuesday morning, a hearing that lasted until just after midnight Wednesday, some 14 hours after it started. About 600 witnesses signed up to testify.
As expected, the testimony fell along expected lines. Supporters insisted that "assault" weapons, designed for the battlefield, are meant to kill as many people as quickly as possible and it doesn't make sense for non-combatants to have access to them.
Critics countered that America faces a moral problem — not a gun problem — and that such a ban would perpetuate "soft targets," such as schools and grocery stores, where criminals, who don't care about gun laws, know they can simply overpower people.
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