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. Backers of the legislation -- which more than half of the 435-member House is sponsoring, including about 50 Democrats -- expect it to pass by a lopsided vote. But its prospects are uncertain in the Senate, which has turned back two other efforts this year to repeal D.C. gun limits. 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. [more
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