Owens: Federal assault rifle ban will fail in Congress – A federal ban on assault rifles will not pass Congress, said U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, on Tuesday.  “Nothing else will come out of the Senate, and absent of the Senate, it won’t happen,” he said at a “Congress on Your Corner” forum at Crandall Public Library.  By “nothing else,” he was referring to nothing other than legislation to toughen penalties for people who legally buy firearms to give to someone else to use in a crime or who is barred from owning guns, and legislation to enhance federal background checks.