The United States is "gun happy," but there are many people "in growing numbers" who don't want it to be that way, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in an interview airing Sunday.
"What I have seen over the decades is a growth of substantial improper use of weapons," the California Democrat told NBC "Meet the Press" anchor Chuck Todd, while discussing her call to ban bump stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to be fired more rapidly.
Feinstein said she does believe guns have a place in the United States, and that she does not have a problem with them if they are used properly, but there are growing instances where that is not happening.
"Now you see a great American classic, which is country music, people by the thousands out in a safe place, with a big hotel in the background," Feinstein told Todd. "Somebody comes along. He has been legal. He's gotten his weapons legally."
The Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, had 40 weapons, including 12 with bump stocks, she pointed out.
"They are on the weapons," Feinstein said, "and he begins to fire a weapon that fires similar to a machine gun out of two broken hotel windows."
Meanwhile, Feinstein declined to say if she plans to seek re-election to the Senate seat she had held since 1992.
"You are going to find out about that very shortly," Feinstein, who became former mayor of San Francisco after the murder of then Mayor Harvey Milk, told Todd. She also dismissed a recent poll finding that 50 percent of California voters do not think she should seek reelection.
"There are polls and then there are polls," she said. "I'm ready for a good fight."
Feinstein said she's close to announcing her decision. She may face opposition from her party, however, because she has supported some of President Donald Trump's nominees while refusing to back single-payer health care.
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