Mothers Protest Effort to Repeal Assault-Gun Ban

Mothers of children killed by gunfire urged lawmakers Monday to oppose repeal of the ban on assault-style weapons and accused Republican leaders of bowing to the gun lobby.

At a news conference organized by Handgun Control Inc., the group displayed several posters filled with snapshots of the dead children and letters, poems and newspaper clippings.

“This giant Mother’s Day card is a reminder of what thousands of mothers across the country did not find in their mailboxes this year,” a sign said. “They did not receive a card because their children were taken away from them--victims of gunfire.”

Firearms cause the death of more people ages 15 to 24 than all natural causes combined, and they are the No. 2 cause of death of those age 10 to 34, after car crashes, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Each day, 15 children age 19 and under are killed with guns.

The mothers urged members of the House and Senate to sign a pledge to oppose “any legislation that would repeal or weaken” the ban on assault-style firearms.

Lois Hess of Baltimore, whose 24-year-old son, Stuart, was shot to death, challenged House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas to stand up to the National Rifle Assn.

She said she was “begging the leaders of Congress to think of the children before they think of the NRA.”

Byrl Phillips Taylor of Richmond, Va., said her son Scott was shot with an AK-47 at age 17.

A Dole spokesman said the senator has long favored an instant background check for purchases of all firearms, including handguns and semiautomatic weapons, to prevent criminals and others not qualified from obtaining them.

A Gingrich spokesman didn’t immediately return a phone call.