US Senate panel backs assault weapons ban A US Senate panel has approved a Democratic bill that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity gun magazines, in a party line vote three months to the day after the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 for the bill, seen by many as the most problematic element of President Barack Obama's push to reduce weapons violence by tightening up Americans' almost unfettered access to firearms. The assault weapons measure - as well as three other items approved earlier in the package of proposed gun reforms - would result in the most substantial change to US gun legislation in a generation. But the measures face an uphill battle, meeting with stiff opposition not just from Obama's Republican foes in Congress, but from many conservative-leaning Democrats as well. The White House and Congress have zeroed in on potential measures to reduce gun violence following the Newtown massacre on December 14, when a gunman went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and in a matter of minutes killed 20 young children and six adults before taking his own life. The semi-automatic Bushmaster XM15 rifle, the weapon used during the assault by Adam Lanza, is the same sort of high-powered, automatic firearm that would be prohibited if the bill were to become law. The committee in recent days passed a gun-trafficking bill that would toughen penalties against people who purchase firearms for others who are not allowed to own weapons. It also signed off on a measure to boost funding for school security and another tightening up background checks on would-be gun purchasers.