"A lot of gun owners are upset about some of the powers that have been given to the federal government," he said. "We're going to try to change that." When asked about the right to bear arms, Feingold acknowledged he originally voted in favor of banning so-called semi-automatic "assault weapons." But he said he hasn't sponsored legislation to continue the ban and is now "leaning against" renewing it. "At these town meetings over the years, I've heard a lot of people say there might have been some misinformation about what these weapons - guns - really are," Feingold said. "There are some semi-automatics that really aren't assault (weapons)."
Feingold is probably the only halfway decent democrat in the Senate. He was the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, and now appears to be leaning against the AWB, which is better than many Republicans, including Bush.
His decision to "lean against it", is also political, since it's becoming appararent that being anti-gun is a very quick way to lose an election in most areas in this country.
Other democrats are starting to realize it also, and are even supporting CCW bills in their respective states.
It's really a great opportunity for the GOP to be more aggressive with regards to repealing many gun laws, and daring the democrats to oppose them. This is not only good policy, it's good politically.
But I guess the GOP has other priorities, like letting more illegals into the country. And when all those illegals get to vote, the democrats will no longer need the votes of pro-gun Americans, so they can go back to their gun-grabbing agenda.