Feinstein: I'm Bringing Assault Weapon Ban to Senate

Gun control has roared back into the national debate, and the issue took over today's political talk shows in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, though David Gregory noted that all 31 pro-gun rights members of the incoming Senate declined his invitation to appear on Meet the Press. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, however, wasted no time in vowing to reintroduce a ban on assault weapons, saying, "There will be a bill. It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation, and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively." President Obama, she vowed, "is going to have a bill to lead on." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, as per Politico:

• Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas: "The conversation we’ve got to have has got to have everybody open-minded," he said, adding that he wished Principal Dawn Hochsprung "had had an M4 in her office locked up and so when she heard gunshots … she takes his head off before he can hurt those kids."

• Conn. Sen-elect Patrick Murphy: "The time for sort of saying that we can't talk about the policy implications of tragedies like this is over. We're going to be on the floor of the Senate very soon talking about where we go from here."
• Conn. Sen. Richard Blumenthal: "I'm hearing from the community as well as my colleagues in law enforcement: We need to do something. Out of respect for the families and their grief, I'm not going to be more specific about that conversation."
• Former education secretary William Bennett: "I'm not sure so—and I'm sure I'll get nailed for this—I wouldn't want one person in a school armed, ready for this kind of thing. It has to be someone who is trained, it has to be someone who is responsible. But my God, if you can prevent this kind of thing..."
• Michael Bloomberg on the NRA: "Today, the NRA's power is so vastly overrated. The public, when you do the polls, they want to stop this carnage. And if 20 kids isn't enough to convince 'em, I don't know what would be," he said, adding that, "This myth that the NRA can destroy political careers is just not true."
• Chuck Schumer's three steps: "One is to ban assault weapons, try and reinstate the assault weapons bans. Second is to limit the size of clips to maybe no more than 10 bullets per clip, and third is to make it harder for mentally unstable people to get guns."

(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)