similar article but different text.
check the last paragraph, vowes to go at it next year! (she's hoping in partnership with Kerry i bet!
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1978323&nav=5D7lOIU8
Feinstein Battles to Renew Gun Ban
Posted: June 29, 2004 at 3:45 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer held a joint news conference in San Francisco Tuesday morning to call attention to the struggle to renew Feinstein's federal assault weapons ban, which is set to expire Sept. 13.
The ban was Feinstein's response to the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago this week in which a man opened fire with an assault weapon at 101 California St., killing eight people and injuring six.
It was signed into law 10 years ago by former President Bill Clinton as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, but Feinstein said today prospects for its renewal are bleak.
"The president of the Unites States has said he will sign this legislation if it reaches his desk," she said.
However, while the ban has 52 votes in its favor in the Senate, it is unlikely to pass in the House of Representatives, Feinstein said.
Feinstein and Boxer were flanked by Steve Sposato and Carol Kingsley, who lost their spouses in the 101 California St. incident. Boxer said one of her son's best friends was also killed in the assault.
Sposato held up one of four assault weapons on display at the news conference, saying that a similar weapon claimed the life of his wife, Judy Jones Sposato, leaving his daughter Megan, now 11, without a mother.
Kingsley, whose husband Jack Berman was killed, urged California residents to ask their friends and family in other states to persuade their legislators to support renewal of the ban.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom weighed in as well, saying that seven of the more than 50 people murdered in San Francisco this year have been killed by bullets from assault weapons, including San Francisco police Officer Isaac Espinosa, who was fatally shot with an AK-47 in the city's Bayview District in April.
"These truly are weapons of choice for these young men who are out there on the streets doing these killings," Newsom said.
San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong said police have confiscated three assault weapons in the past 10 days alone.
Boxer said that since the assault weapons ban was passed a decade ago, assault weapon use has decreased by 45 percent.
Feinstein said the ban has resulted a two-thirds decrease in the numbers of shootings using assault weapons. She also said that "by every poll" three-quarters of Americans support the assault weapon ban, as do 60 percent of gun-owning families.
National Rifle Association spokeswoman Kelly Hobbs, however, said statistics given by supporters of the renewal should be taken with a grain of salt.
"The difference between 2004 and 1994 is that most Americans understand banning these firearms has no effect on crime," Hobbs said.
Hobbs cited a 1997 study by the Urban Institute, commissioned in part by the U.S. Department of Justice, as one indication that the ban was ineffective.
The study, which only took into account one year of post-ban data, showed a slight drop in gun murders, but did not conclusively prove that the drop was attributable to the assault weapon ban.
Hobbs claimed that it is the criminals, not the assault weapons, that are the problem behind violent crime and that law-abiding gun owners use assault weapons for legitimate purposes including sports and target shooting.
The fate of the ban, she said, is "an extremely important issue to our 4 million members," she said.
Feinstein accused the gun lobby, which she called "very powerful," of using its political clout to sway legislators.
If the ban is not renewed, Feinstein said she would spend next year fighting to pass a new ban similar to the original. "We'll launch a nationwide effort to get it passed," she said.
