US Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, gun control advocate, dead at 90

Feinstein was a trailblazer who joined the Senate in 1992 and was re-elected five times, becoming the longest-serving woman senator ever

She pushed for tougher gun laws, having been on the scene shortly after the 1978 assassination of two colleagues, and spoke out against torture

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Senator Dianne Feinstein in 2019, when she was in her 80s. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:12pm, 29 Sep 2023Updated: 10:25pm, 29 Sep 2023

Dianne Feinstein, a long-serving Democratic US senator from California and gun control advocate who spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban and documented the CIA’s torture of foreign terrorism suspects, has died at 90, a source familiar with the news said on Friday.

Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the news, first reported by the Punchbowl news outlet. She had previously announced plans to retire at the end of next year.

Feinstein, the oldest member of the Senate, was a Washington trailblazer who, among other accomplishments, became the first woman to head the influential Senate Intelligence Committee.

During almost 31 years in Senate she amassed a moderate-to-liberal record, sometimes drawing scorn from the left. Feinstein joined the Senate in 1992 after winning a special election and was re-elected five times including in 2018, along the way becoming the longest-serving woman senator ever.

Feinstein’s political career was shaped by guns. She became San Francisco’s mayor in 1978 upon the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Senator Dianne Feinstein leaves a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in May. Photo: via TNS

Feinstein was president of the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors when Moscone and Milk were gunned down by a former supervisor, Dan White.