U.S. Senator Dick Durbin has long been a supporter of banning military-style weapons and he hopes the Colorado shootings will open up some people to re-instituting the federal ban that was placed on them from 1994 until 2004…



Durbin also says he has brought up the issue in Washington but no measure to reinstate the weapons ban has come up for a floor vote.  The U.S. Department of Justice says the effect on overall crime of an assault weapons ban is likely to be small, because so few crimes involve them.