Just weeks ahead of the opening of Wisconsin’s popular deer hunting season for hunters using guns, four Democrats in the state Assembly have released a draft copy of their proposed ban on what they are calling “semiautomatic assault weapons.”

The proposal would ban rifles, handguns and shotguns if they possessed just one of several prohibited design features outlined in the legislation. Many of the firearms that would be banned are used by hunters.

“No Wisconsin community should ever have to face such a tragedy [a shooting] at the hands of someone armed with a semiautomatic assault weapon,” declared state Rep. Lisa Subeck, a Madison-area Democrat, former state leader of the pro-abortion group NARAL, and lead sponsor of the proposed gun ban.

“I can conceive of no legitimate reason that any citizen should need to own or use a semiautomatic assault weapon,” she said.

According to the press release from Subeck’s office, “Semiautomatic assault weapons are a class of firearms that are designed to kill large numbers of people quickly.”

Joining Subeck in her long-shot pursuit of this gun ban are state Representatives Chris Taylor, formerly of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Melissa Sargent, and Terese Berceau – all Democrats.

A copy of the legislation posted to Urban Milwaukee’s website as an accompaniment to Subeck’s press release defines “semiautomatic assault weapons” to include:

A semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and that has any of the following:

1. A pistol grip that protrudes beneath the action of the weapon.
2. A folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock.
3. A 2nd handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand.
4. A bayonet mount.
5. A flash suppressor, muzzle brake, or muzzle compensator or a threaded barrel capable of accepting a flash suppressor, muzzle brake, or muzzle compensator.
6. A grenade launcher.

A semiautomatic shotgun that has any of the following:

1. A folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock.
2. A 2nd handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand.
3. A fixed magazine capacity in excess of 7 rounds.

A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and that has any of the following:

a. A folding, telescoping, or thumbhole stock.
b. A 2nd handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by the nontrigger hand.
c. The capacity to accept an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip.
d. A threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer.
e. A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel, and that permits the user to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned.
f. A manufactured weight of at least 50 ounces when the pistol is unloaded.

Notably, the legislation does not require a rifle, shotgun or pistol to have all of the prohibited items, but only one of those things. Rifles and pistols must have one banned characteristic in addition to a detachable magazine. The language is so broad that any one of several types of rifles used for hunting could land on the banned list.

Violators of the proposal could face up to 6 years behind bars and pay up to $10,000 in fines.

Why some Wisconsin Democrats are pushing this proposal right now doesn’t make political sense. In Virginia, the anti-gun group led by billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently spent over $2 million trying to secure control of the Virginia Senate for anti-gun Democrats.

As Kevin Binversie of RightWisconsin.com points out, the effort failed miserably. A similar attempt by Bloomberg’s group to oust pro-gun Democratic Sheriff David Clarke in Milwaukee County in 2014 was also unsuccessful.

Conservative radio show host Erick Erickson remarked after Tuesday’s election in Virginia, “Don’t look now, but Virginia likes its guns.”

Subeck’s proposed gun ban is essentially dead on arrival thanks to Republican control of both chambers of the legislature. But what the measure does show is that Subeck and her fellow Democratic lawmakers are tone deaf when it comes to observing how well the anti-gun agenda plays out for Democrats across the country.

Authored by Brian Sikma.