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The steps in which a bill becomes a law through both the House and Senate are nearly exact, except for one extra step in the House. First, the bill is introduced in one of the chambers. Once introduced and assigned a number and title, it is assigned to a committee and then to a sub-committee where it is studied and debated by the committee and all interested parties.

At this point, amendments to the bill are made as necessary and the bill is sent back to the chamber that it was originally introduced in for a vote. Once the bill passes vote, it is sent to the other chamber for debate, amendment and a vote.

If the House and Senate both agree on the bill, it is sent to the President for signature or veto. If the President signs, it becomes law. On the House side, after full committee consideration the bill is sent to the House Rules Committee, where "the rules governing debate and amendments on the bill are decided", (Lenz & Holman, 2013).

"If one chamber passes a different version of a bill than the other, a conference committee must resolve the differences and send it back to each chamber for approval before it is forwarded to the President for signature or veto", (Dyhouse, 1996) If the President decides to veto the bill, it can be overridden by a two thirds vote in both chambers.

Although the basics of this process can be explained in a paragraph or two, it is a very tedious procedure that in most cases does not make it through all of the steps.

House of Representatives bill number 4269 was introduced in December of 2015 by Democrat David Cicilline of Rhode Island. This bill is an attempt to band semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

Although there is a grandfather clause put into place for current owners of these weapons, this bill will make it illegal to possess, transfer or sell the weapons or high capacity magazines once the bill has passed. Currently, the bill has been introduced but has not passed either chamber.

The last action on the bill was that it was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations in January of 2016. Once it is debated and amended by the Subcommittee, it will be sent back to the House for a vote and will continue through the process outlined above.