May 14, 2003

President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Re: The Assault Weapons Ban Renewal

Dear Mr. President:

We write to urge you to aggressively and publicly support the renewal of the 1994 assault weapons ban by Congress, which will expire on September 13, 2004, and the closure of the loophole in the law which allows the import of foreign-made large capacity ammunition magazines into the United States. We know that you do not want to see the reemergence on the streets of America of violent assault weapons like AK-47s and TEC-9s, which could be used by gang members, drive-by-shooters, grievance killers and even terrorists to kill countless of innocent Americans.

You have indicated your support for the renewal of the assault weapons ban and for the clip important ban on several occasions in the past. Furthermore, in 1999, the clip import ban passed the Senate with 59 votes and the House of Representatives by unanimous consent, but got stalled in a conference committee debate. In sum, your support for the assault weapons and clip import ban is a good decision for all Americans which has great political and popular support.

We urge you today to reaffirm that support by strongly urging the Congress to pass S.1034, the tri-partisan assault weapons ban renewal bill which we recently introduced in the Senate. We were very surprised to learn in today's Washington Post that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said that he does not intend to bring the assault weapons ban renewal bill up for a vote in the House. This is a blatant attempt by House Republicans to kill the assault weapons ban in order to appease a minority of special interests, rather than the majority of Americans. We cannot believe that you, as a man of your word, would stand by and let that happen.

Therefore, we call on you today to bring the full force of the White House to bear and to publicly and aggressively work for passage of the assault weapons ban renewal bill we have proposed. The leaders of the House of Representatives will follow your leadership on this issue, as they have recently on so many issues. Only through your forceful and relentless leadership can Americans be protected from assault weapons after September 13, 2004.

We look forward to working together and providing you with our full support on this critical issue in order to protect the lives of innocent Americans.

Sincerely,

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Charles E. Schumer