As part of her larger “assault weapons” ban, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) seeks to criminalize private “assault weapon” sales.

Feinstein does this via her push to implement universal background checks for all sales and transfers of commonly owned semiautomatic rifles.

On January 11, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Feinstein wants to ban 205 commonly owned semiautomatic rifles. Her press release on that ban indicates she also wants to require “a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.”

This means it would be criminal for a grandfather to pass his commonly owned semiautomatic rifle to his grandson without government permission via a background check. It would be criminal for a friend to sell his commonly owned semiautomatic rifle to a lifelong friend without government permission as well.

On September 26, 2018, Breitbart News reported FBI figures showing nearly four times as many people were stabbed to in 2017 than were shot and killed with rifles of any kind. The FBI’s Uniformed Crime Report showed 1,591 people were killed with “knives or cutting instruments,” while 403 were killed with “rifles.”

The category of “rifles” encompasses many different types, so the deaths that resulted from the specific ones the Democrats label as “assault weapons” would have been fewer than 403.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.