http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55603-2004Sep27.htmlBush Challenged on D.C. Gun Bill
Democrats Push for Stand on Repeal of Weapons Bans
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 28, 2004; Page A04
Two senior House Democrats called on President Bush yesterday to declare whether he supports a bill that would repeal virtually all of the District's gun laws, as GOP House leaders scheduled a vote on the measure tomorrow. <snip>
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.), would end the city's stringent bans on handguns and semiautomatic weapons, lift registration requirements for ammunition and other weapons, and decriminalize possession of unregistered firearms and carrying a handgun in one's home or office.
In their letter to Bush, Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said the bill would "undo many of the security measures that have been put into place" in the nation's capital since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
They wrote that if the bill became law, "someone could legally possess a semiautomatic <.50-caliber> sniper rifle and armor piercing ammunition in an apartment overlooking . . . Connecticut Avenue, a common route for motorcades.
"Ice cream and hot dog vendors
could be armed with assault weapons. . . . A Capitol Hill resident who lived across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court could sit on his porch with a fully-loaded semiautomatic Uzi Carbine."
The lawmakers added, "We want to know where you and your Administration stand on this bill," and they accused the president of failing to lobby for an extension of the federal assault weapons ban this year. <snip>
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