Feinstein bringing a Bushmaster assault rifle to Senate to unveil gun bill

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is expected to bring "a bunch of assault weapons" -- including a Bushmaster rifle like the one used to slaughter 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut -- to the Senate on Thursday when she introduces a bill to ban the military-style weapons.

Democratic sources told CNN on Thursday that Feinstein's staff had "coordinated completely" Washington Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police to ensure that the transport and display of the weapons was legal under current law.

NBC host David Gregory had recently narrowly avoided prosecution after he allegedly broke D.C. law by holding up a high-capacity magazine to make a point during an interview with National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre.

"I'm told that she will have more than one assault weapon," CNN's Dana Bash reported on Thursday. "And she's going to have them on display... The reason she is going to do this, I'm told, is to show specifically her fellow Democrats -- conservative Democrats, which there are half a dozen [or] even more very reluctant to do anything to change the assault weapons laws -- that you don't need these kinds guns in the hands of regular, ordinary, average people."

Feinstein's bill is expected to ban the sale, transfer and importation of guns fitted for detachable magazines; ban the importation of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; and ban all high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

"I'm told that she and her office worked very hard and jumped through many, many hoops coordinating D.C. police department, with the Capitol Police and others to make sure she is doing everything by the books," Bash said. "Because we remember our friend David Gregory brought in an assault weapon [magazine] to make a point with the NRA executive director and seemed to have been in a little bit of hot water."

Watch the video below from CNN, broadcast Jan. 24, 2013.