Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
Via Ammoland:
Sen. Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) introduced a new proposed ban on most semiautomatic guns in the Delaware General Assembly on Thursday.
Townsend based the bill on the infamous Maryland Firearm Safety Act of 2013 (“FSA”) which banned most modern sporting rifles. Maryland Democrats used the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut to push the bill through their legislator. It appears that the anti-gun politicians in Delaware are using the Parkland Florida shooting as an excuse to introduce the bill and push it through
The bill would ban 60 specific makes and models of rifles, shotguns, and “assault pistols”. The law goes further and would prohibit any gun that Delaware deems a “copycat weapon.” The legislation would give Delaware almost unlimited power to determine which firearm would fall into this category.
The bill would also prevent the transfer, sale, or manufacture of these firearms. Any firearms companies located in Delaware will have to shut down or leave the state. There is a grandfather clause for citizens that already own these rifles.[…]
The bill does acknowledge that some people do use these would-be banned firearms for self-defense. It then goes further and states that most people choose other guns for self-defense. It uses that fact to try to override the self-defense argument.
Townsend also wrongly claims that so-called “assault weapons bullets” can penetrate standard home construction and car doors while handgun rounds cannot. The bill also states that the 5.56 round can easily penetrate body armor. These false statements show that Townsend is either grossly misinformed or he is dishonest. Anti-gun groups have used this tactic in gun control bills in other states.
Townsend also wrote in the legislation that modern sporting rifles give criminals a “military-style advantage” over law enforcement. Most officers have access to AR15s along with training on the platform, and statistically, most criminals do not use AR15s in crimes. Any advantage would be canceled out for these reasons.