California Senator Dianne Feinstein will not seek re-election

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) released a statement today that she will not seek re-election after her term expires in 2024, ending her run as California’s longest-serving senator.

It was an open secret on Capitol Hill, and then Not a secret at allThat Feinstein, the oldest senator at 89, was no longer quite ready for the job.

While his replacement probably won’t be much of an improvement, anyone who considers themselves a civil libertarian can only wish Feinstein a trip to the forest. From her perch in the Senate, Feinstein was a habitual foe of the Second Amendment, a hysterical drug warrior and a staunch defender of government surveillance.

Annoyed that you can’t buy Sudafed over the counter? Blame Feinstein Co-sponsor Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005. The law also bans the sale of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, which can be used as precursors to illegal drugs, in an effort to stop meth cooks from stockpiling the drug. Rather than curbing meth abuse, however, this law has only allowed Mexican drug cartels to expand their reach and enrich themselves.

Ever lusted for the original Four Loko (you monster)? Blame Feinstein, who was one of the senators FDA called for investigation The drink for being too scary for college kids to handle.

Feinstein was repeatedly snookered by stories of candy-flavored meth—an urban legend that news outlets regurgitate every few years. he Co-sponsored Act in 2009 and then Again in 2017 To jack up fines for manufacturing drugs designed to appeal to minors.

In fairness to the senator, one bright spot in his career must also be mentioned: his dogged work exposing the illegal torture program of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

However, on the national security front, he has often been hostile to individual liberties and privacy rights. He sponsored the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012, which “[gave] Government agents almost covertly monitor the domestic communications of American citizens“She Enacted Laws That would force tech companies to build backdoors around encrypted devices He was a defender of the Obama administration’s bloody drone program.

Feinstein’s Sisyphean efforts include trying to revive a federal assault weapons ban since it expired in 2004. Feinstein has gradually reintroduced sweeping gun control laws, but becauseAs Jacob Sullum (who has had an equally Sisyphean task writing about the bill) has repeatedly pointed out, they are filled with arbitrary definitions and bans of cosmetic features that will actually do little to stop mass shootings. Sulum wrote thousands of words on why these bills make no sense, but these two paragraphs About Feinstein’s Effort in 2021 Should be enough:

Unlike the 1994 definition, which required two or more “military-style” features, Feinstein’s new proposal, like bills she’s been sponsoring since 2013, would be enough to make a rifle intolerable. Feinstein continues to whistle through her list of prohibited properties. He no longer thinks we need to worry about bayonet mounts, but he is now sounding the alarm about the ominous barrel shroud, a covering that protects the shooter’s hands from the heat generated by firing a rifle. And while his 2013 list included “a rocket launcher,” that has since been cut, though “grenade launcher” is still there.

Crimes committed with rifle-mounted grenade launchers are as common in the United States as crimes committed with rifle-mounted bayonets. Even if someone decided to attach a grenade launcher to his rifle, he would have a hard time finding anything to launch it with, since grenades are strictly regulated as “destructive devices” under federal law. Similarly, the rest of the observed characteristics do not make a gun particularly lethal: they have nothing to do with rate of fire, ammunition size, muzzle velocity, or muzzle energy.

Feinstein’s hostility to private gun ownership and her love of the national security apparatus have their truths revealed in her. repeated attempts To pass legislation that would prevent people on the FBI’s terror watch list from buying guns.

However, let’s not say that because Failing to recognize his hard work. He was one of the magazine’s “Top 10 Enemies of FreedomIn 2013.