D.C. Gun Ban: Anti-gun House Dems buckle under NRA pressure, vote to come next month

The Washington Post is reporting that Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have agreed to allow a vote next month on a bill that would end local handgun control in the District, making it easier for D.C. residents to acquire pistols, including semiautomatics, while eliminating the strict handgun-storage requirements imposed by the city.

Even as Democrats shuttered the Capitol for the summer vacation without addressing other critical election year issues, such as energy crisis contributing to $4 gasoline, the National Rifle Association managed to force the D.C. gun ban issue onto the table by announcing that it would be grading members on whether they sign a discharge petition to force a vote on a similar, GOP-backed bill.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said in a statement that those Democrats "hope to relieve election year pressure by getting a Democratic-backed bill to the floor, out of fear that the [National Rifle Association] will run hometown ads against their reelection."

From the story:

After a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision June 26 ended the city's 32-year-old handgun ban, the District replaced the ban with strict handgun limits, which critics say violate the high court's ruling.

The bill would scrap those limits, allowing residents to own handguns without registering them with the D.C. police department, provided they meet federal requirements for firearms ownership.

Besides abolishing the requirement that owners keep their handguns unloaded in their homes and either disassembled or fitted with trigger locks, the measure would repeal the city's prohibition on most magazine-fed semiautomatic handguns -- a ban that has been in effect for decades and was not part of the Supreme Court case.

The legislation also would allow D.C. residents to buy and take delivery of handguns in Virginia and Maryland. Federal law currently prohibits gun buyers from acquiring the weapons in states where they do not reside.

...The legislation was offered as a compromise after House Republicans had maneuvered to get a vote on another measure that would have gone even further, repealing a D.C. law that allows gunmakers to be sued by victims of firearms violence.

Supporters told the Post the bill has a good chance of passing the House, where pro-gun measures are popular. But it is unclear whether it would succeed in the Senate, where complex rules make it harder to push through legislation.

The story notes that, more than a month after the Supreme Court victory, only 11 handgun registrations have been approved in the city of more than one-half million people.

Dick Heller, a security guard who sued the city over it's 30 year-old handgun ban and won the Supreme Court case, filed another lawsuit against the District last week, arguing that the restrictions imposed by the District after the Court's decision violate the letter and spirit of the ruling.