Mayors urge Senate to pass gun safety bill introduced by late Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Washington, DC – Today, United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praising his decision to bring the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023, S. 25, to the floor and urging the Senate to support the bill.

S.25 was introduced by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who was an active member and leader of the Conference during her tenure as Mayor of San Francisco (1978 – 1988). As a Senator she authored The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Cochran writes that it “made our cities and our nation safer and S. 25 can do so as well if Congress passes it and sends it to the President.”

In the letter, Cochran concludes: “Let that work begin now in the Senate as a tribute to Senator Feinstein. How many children must die, how many adults must die before our nation takes action to reduce gun violence? We must and we can do more to protect people from this senseless slaughter. The time for Congress to act is now. Our children deserve better.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below:

The Honorable Chuck Schumer

Majority Leader

United States Senate

The Capitol

Washington, DC 20510

 Dear Leader Schumer:

 I write to register the strong support of The United States Conference of Mayors for the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023, S. 25.  We applaud your decisions to bring this bill to the floor and urge all Senators to support it because it will make our country safer and it will honor in the best way possible the memory and legacy of its sponsor, the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. 

 S.25 would ban the sale, transfer, importation, and possession of new military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. If anyone questions the need for this bill, we urge them to review TERROR ON REPEAT: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings, recently published by The Washington Post. The photographs are brutal and horrific and graphically demonstrate the danger these weapons pose to all of us, but most especially to our children.

Dianne Feinstein was a great Mayor and a great Senator.  She was an active and proud member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a leader within our organization.  Through her long career in the Senate she sponsored many important bills and saw them enacted, including The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.  That bill made our cities and our nation safer and S. 25 can do so as well if Congress passes it and sends it to the President. 

Let that work begin now in the Senate as a tribute to Senator Feinstein.  How many children must die, how many adults must die before our nation takes action to reduce gun violence? We must and we can do more to protect people from this senseless slaughter. The time for Congress to act is now. Our children deserve better.

Sincerely,

Tom Cochran

CEO and Executive Director

cc:United States Senate