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Brady Campaign Issues Challenge to Bush on Assault Weapons Ban
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BRADY E-ACTION RESPONSE NETWORK ALERT
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Issue: 135 - 5/15/2003
Brady Campaign Issues Challenge to Bush on Assault Weapons Ban
The Republican-led House has thrown down the gauntlet on the reauthorization of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, saying it will not bring a reauthorization bill to the floor. And despite past promises of signing such a bill, Bush seems reluctant to put up a fight to get the bill introduced, and may even be working to ensure the bill never reaches his desk. As a dedicated supporter, we thought you'd like to know we aren't taking this lying down. Read below our hard-hitting press release issued today calling for Bush to stand up to Congress and live up to his promise to reauthorize the Assault Weapons Ban.
For Immediate Release
May 14, 2003
Contact: Peter Hamm
202-898-0792
PRESIDENT BUSH, WE READ YOUR LIPS. KEEP YOUR PROMISE.
CALL HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY: 202-225-5951. TELL YOUR PARTY TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES AND POLICE INSTEAD OF ARMING KILLERS
Washington, D.C.--During his 2000 Presidential campaign, now-President George W. Bush repeatedly promised to renew the Federal assault weapons law. But it now appears the President plans to break his promise, and work with House leaders to let the law die.
That means barring a change that can only come from the President or a major public outcry, the American people will see legal sales of banned assault weapons starting in September 2004.
In today's Washington Post, a House GOP leadership aid said the White House doesn't want a vote on the assault weapons ban. Last week, key Bush advisor Karl Rove was quoted in New Hampshire saying the bill would never reach the President's desk. The current law is supported by every major police organization in the country.
The announcement that there would not be a House vote represents "a shameful abrogation of the responsibilities members of Congress were elected to undertake - which is to do the people's work," said Michael Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March. "The President ought to pick up the phone and tell the House leadership he disagrees - instead of having his staff encourage those who oppose the ban. Indeed, he ought to be telling them to strengthen the existing law."
"This is a travesty," said Mary Leigh Blek, Director of the Million Mom March. "If the ban expires, police will once again be outgunned, our children will be at further risk. Many of us voted for President Bush because he was willing to break with his party on this issue. It's troubling to think he didn't mean what he said."
The facts:
- Assault weapon bans work. In 1989, when President Bush stopped the import of certain assault rifles, the number of imported assault rifles traced to crime dropped by 45 percent in one year. After the 1994 ban, there were 18 percent fewer assault weapons traced to crime in the first eight months of 1995 than were traced in the same period in 1994.
- Assault weapons are not just "ugly guns." Semi-automatic assault weapons are designed to maximize death and injury from a very rapid rate of fire. Assault weapons are designed to accommodate silencers and with military features such as grenade launchers, folding stocks, flash suppressors, barrel shrouds and bayonets which are all ludicrously unsuited for civilian use. In contrast, semi-automatic hunting rifles are designed to be fired from the shoulder and depend on the accurate shooting of one bullet at a time.
Assault weapons were used...
- To kill five children and wound 29 others in a Stockton, California schoolyard in 1989. The AK-47 held 75 - that's right, 75 - bullets.
- To kill eight people and wound six others at a San Francisco law firm in 1993. Two TEC-9's with 50-round magazines were used in the massacre.
- To kill two CIA employees and wound three others outside the CIA's Langley, Virginia headquarters in 1993.
- To kill four ATF special agents and wound 16 others at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, when the officers were attempting to serve warrants on the cult in 1993.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March supports renewal, enforcement and strengthening of the current law.
President Bush - if you want to keep your promise, the phone number to dial is 202-225-5951. That's the number for Rep. Tom Delay, the House Majority Leader.
Pick up the phone.
=====================================
BRADY E-ACTION RESPONSE NETWORK ALERT
=====================================
Issue: 135 - 5/15/2003
Brady Campaign Issues Challenge to Bush on Assault Weapons Ban
The Republican-led House has thrown down the gauntlet on the reauthorization of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, saying it will not bring a reauthorization bill to the floor. And despite past promises of signing such a bill, Bush seems reluctant to put up a fight to get the bill introduced, and may even be working to ensure the bill never reaches his desk. As a dedicated supporter, we thought you'd like to know we aren't taking this lying down. Read below our hard-hitting press release issued today calling for Bush to stand up to Congress and live up to his promise to reauthorize the Assault Weapons Ban.
For Immediate Release
May 14, 2003
Contact: Peter Hamm
202-898-0792
PRESIDENT BUSH, WE READ YOUR LIPS. KEEP YOUR PROMISE.
CALL HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY: 202-225-5951. TELL YOUR PARTY TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES AND POLICE INSTEAD OF ARMING KILLERS
Washington, D.C.--During his 2000 Presidential campaign, now-President George W. Bush repeatedly promised to renew the Federal assault weapons law. But it now appears the President plans to break his promise, and work with House leaders to let the law die.
That means barring a change that can only come from the President or a major public outcry, the American people will see legal sales of banned assault weapons starting in September 2004.
In today's Washington Post, a House GOP leadership aid said the White House doesn't want a vote on the assault weapons ban. Last week, key Bush advisor Karl Rove was quoted in New Hampshire saying the bill would never reach the President's desk. The current law is supported by every major police organization in the country.
The announcement that there would not be a House vote represents "a shameful abrogation of the responsibilities members of Congress were elected to undertake - which is to do the people's work," said Michael Barnes, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March. "The President ought to pick up the phone and tell the House leadership he disagrees - instead of having his staff encourage those who oppose the ban. Indeed, he ought to be telling them to strengthen the existing law."
"This is a travesty," said Mary Leigh Blek, Director of the Million Mom March. "If the ban expires, police will once again be outgunned, our children will be at further risk. Many of us voted for President Bush because he was willing to break with his party on this issue. It's troubling to think he didn't mean what he said."
The facts:
- Assault weapon bans work. In 1989, when President Bush stopped the import of certain assault rifles, the number of imported assault rifles traced to crime dropped by 45 percent in one year. After the 1994 ban, there were 18 percent fewer assault weapons traced to crime in the first eight months of 1995 than were traced in the same period in 1994.
- Assault weapons are not just "ugly guns." Semi-automatic assault weapons are designed to maximize death and injury from a very rapid rate of fire. Assault weapons are designed to accommodate silencers and with military features such as grenade launchers, folding stocks, flash suppressors, barrel shrouds and bayonets which are all ludicrously unsuited for civilian use. In contrast, semi-automatic hunting rifles are designed to be fired from the shoulder and depend on the accurate shooting of one bullet at a time.
Assault weapons were used...
- To kill five children and wound 29 others in a Stockton, California schoolyard in 1989. The AK-47 held 75 - that's right, 75 - bullets.
- To kill eight people and wound six others at a San Francisco law firm in 1993. Two TEC-9's with 50-round magazines were used in the massacre.
- To kill two CIA employees and wound three others outside the CIA's Langley, Virginia headquarters in 1993.
- To kill four ATF special agents and wound 16 others at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, when the officers were attempting to serve warrants on the cult in 1993.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence United with the Million Mom March supports renewal, enforcement and strengthening of the current law.
President Bush - if you want to keep your promise, the phone number to dial is 202-225-5951. That's the number for Rep. Tom Delay, the House Majority Leader.
Pick up the phone.
