VIDEO: Feinstein will not pursue assault weapons ban for now

The key sponsor of the 1994 assault weapons ban said Thursday she will not seek to renew the now-lapsed gun law right now.

While Feinstein said she would like to see the bill renewed, she said that an effort to renew the ban would be a distraction to the Obama administration.

“I wouldn’t bring it up now,” Feinstein told “60 Minutes” in an interview that will air Sunday night. “I’ll pick the time and the place, no question about it.”

Feinstein said no one from the administration had tried to sway her on when she would introduce the legislation. “Nobody said a word to me,” the California Democrat said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier this week that the House would try to forge some sort of compromise on an assault weapons ban, which the Bush administration let lapse after the law was sunset in 2004.

Feinstein also had harsh words for the gun lobby’s influence on the legislation.

“The National Rifle Association essentially has a stranglehold on the Congress,” she said.