Sen. Feinstein proposes ban on assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WITI) -- Almost six weeks after the Connecticut shooting rampage that killed 20 first-graders, Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a new federal ban on some assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons.

For Sen. Feinstein it's personal. 

"I became mayor as a product of assassination," Sen. Feinstein said.

The death of Feinstein's colleagues, including Harvey Milk, the first openly gay public official in America was so traumatic she rarely discusses it.

However, at the launch of her push to renew the assault weapons ban, she answered in graphic detail.

"I was the one that found Supervisor Milk's body and I was the one that put the finger in the bullet hole trying to get a pulse. Once you have been through one of these episodes, once you see what a crime scene is like, it isn't like the movies, it changes your view of weapons," Sen. Feinstein said.

Sen. Feinstein put on an elaborate event, even getting special permission from D.C. and Capitol Police to display 10 different types of assault weapons, including an AR-15 -- the kind of rifle the shooter used to murder children in Newtown.

"Assault weapons were designed for, and should be used, on our battlefields, not on our streets," Sen. Feinstein said.

The proposed legislation would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of more than 150 assault style weapons and ban large capacity magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition. 

To appeal to gun owners, it excludes or keeps legal most handguns and 2,200 hunting and sporting rifles. 

Also on hand on Thursday, January 24th were family members and victims of gun massacres across the country. Lilly Haptu was shot in German class at Virginia Tech.

"I have a bullet still in my head. I was shot in the jaw. It's one inch. It's one millimeter away from my brain stem," Haptu said.

Still, Feinstein is realistic about the slim chance this assault weapons ban has of passing.

"If anyone asks today can you win this, the answer is we don't know, it's so uphill," Sen. Feinstein said.

Pushing gun control is now a White House campaign style effort, and Vice President Joe Biden held a social media town hall -- a Google hangout, to rally support.

The White House and Sen. Feinstein know their biggest hurdle is convincing skeptical fellow Democrats from gun rights states to support gun control.