Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger has pledged to help Senator Feinstein re-authorize the assault weapons ban.

Washington, DC - At a meeting today with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in the U.S. Capitol -- their first since his election -- Governor-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger declared support for the reauthorization of the 1994 federal assault weapons ban.

During a news availability at the beginning of the meeting, Schwarzenegger was asked if he would work with Senator Feinstein to see that the ban gets reauthorized and that some of the key loopholes in the 1994 law are closed.

An Associated Press reporter asked the Governor-Elect: "You said that you were going to work with Senator Feinstein, and one of her major goals, I believe, is to reauthorize the assault weapons ban. Now you have said in the past that you oppose assault weapons in principle. Now, are you going to work with the Senator to see that this ban gets reauthorized and to that some of the issues she has about loopholes get addressed?

"Absolutely, we will work together, yes," Schwarzenegger said.

"So you continue to believe that assault weapons should be banned?" he was asked.

"That's right," Schwarzenneger said..

"I welcome Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger's support in this effort," Senator Feinstein said. "With his help, we can ensure that the ban is reauthorized and that military-style assault weapons aren't allowed back on the streets of America."

"Assault weapons are the weapons of choice for criminals and those seeking to do the maximum damage possible in the shortest amount of time," Senator Feinstein said. "That's what makes them so dangerous - because they have light triggers, you can spray fire them, you can hold them with two hands, and you don't really need to aim. They are not weapons of choice for hunters or those trying to protect themselves."

The 1994 assault weapons ban was authored in the Senate by Senator Feinstein. If Congress does not take action, the ban will expire on September 13, 2004, and manufacturers would once again be able to make the assault weapons that have been banned for almost 10 years.

Earlier this year, Senator Feisntein introduced legislation would reauthorize the ban by striking the sunset date from the original law. This would:

• Maintain the ban on the manufacture and importation of 19 types of common military style assault weapons - for all time.
• Maintain the ban on an additional group of assault weapons that have been banned by characteristic for 8 years.
• Continue to protect some 670 hunting and other recreational rifles for use by law-abiding citizens; and
• Preserve the right of police officers and other law enforcement officials to use and obtain newly manufactured semi-automatic assault weapons -- helping to prevent instances when law enforcement agents are outgunned by perpetrators.
  

In addition, the legislation would close a loophole in the 1994 law, which prohibits the domestic manufacture of high-capacity ammunition magazines, but allows foreign companies to continue sending them to this country by the millions.

A measure that would have closed this loophole passed the House and Senate in 1999 by wide margins, but was bottled up in the 1999 Juvenile Justice conference report due to an unrelated provision. Since 1994, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has approved the importation of almost 50 million high capacity ammunition magazines from some 50 countries.

Senator Feinstein meets with Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger in Washington D.C.

President Bush has consistently indicated his support for reauthorization of the current ban. The President has also made it clear that he supports banning theimportation of high capacity ammunition clips.

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