USA Today says California Democrat Dianne Feinstein will begin her fourth full term as a U.S. senator much as she started her Senate career: fighting for a ban on assault weapons. Feinstein's new bill, which will be introduced Thursday in the Senate, among other things proposes to ban the sale, transfer, importation or manufacturing of about 150 named firearms; strengthen the 1994 ban by defining more guns as assault weapons; ban firearms with "thumbhole stocks" and "bullet buttons"; ban the importation of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and ban high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

The bill would grandfather in weapons legally owned on the day of enactment and exempts over 900 specific weapons "used for hunting or sporting purposes." Feinstein first got involved with gun control 34 years ago, when San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, the nation's first openly gay elected official, were murdered by disgruntled former city supervisor Dan White. "I became mayor as a product of assassination," she said.