Op-Ed: Gunning for Nov.

It’s not easy to get lawmakers to pay attention to issues other than energy and housing when gas is $4 per gallon and banks are announcing record losses due to failing mortgage investments.

Yet that’s exactly what the National Rifle Association is attempting to do by grading members on whether they sign a discharge petition to force a vote on an NRA-backed bill. Given the lobby’s clout, the chances are that many lawmakers will give it a serious look.

The NRA remains one of the nation’s most powerful lobbies, and it is wisely seeking to capitalize on its historic Second Amendment victory last month at the Supreme Court. The high court’s 5-4 decision that the District of Colombia’s handgun ban was unconstitutional gave a shot in the arm to the NRA and gun-rights supporters around the country.

Now the NRA is trying to ensure that its court win extends to the legislative branch by rallying for legislation sponsored by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) that would eliminate gun registration and end criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm.

The bill also would undo the District’s new handgun law instituted in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. The new law still bans some semi-automatic handguns, which it treats as machine guns, and in the NRA’s view includes burdensome rules on storing guns. It also makes it far too difficult for gun owners to register their firearms, according to the NRA.

Getting 218 lawmakers to sign the petition would discharge Ross’s bill to the floor, forcing a vote. That would be quite a feat for a measure that has been stuck in committee for more than a year, despite 247 co-sponsors, including 56 Democrats.

The NRA move puts those 56 Democrats in an uncomfortable position. They can either challenge their leadership months before an election by supporting the discharge petition, or they can risk their ratings with a powerful lobby that has proved it can bring out voters, particularly in rural areas.

...It is a savvy political move by a lobby group that could face a Congress and executive branch next year that look with less favor on its issue.

Even if the discharge petition fails or the Ross bill gets a vote but does not become law, the NRA will be forcing members of the majority party to declare their allegiances.

Click here to read the entire editorial from TheHill.com.

UPDATE: The Hill - (Democrat) Reps. Tanner and Dingell seek to strike deal with NRA

Democratic lawmakers and leaders are hoping to work out a compromise as early as this week with the National Rifle Association (NRA) on legislation to further loosen gun laws in the District of Columbia.

UPDATE #2: NRAILA.org - Bi-Partisan Bill Introduced to Restore the Second Amendment Rights of D.C. Residents

This week, in a bi-partisan effort, Congressmen Travis Childers (D-Miss.), John Dingell (D-Mich.), John Tanner (D-Tenn.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), and Mark Souder (R-Ind.), along with 47 of their colleagues, introduced the "Second Amendment Enforcement Act" (H.R. 6691). This critical legislation overturns D.C.'s recently enacted emergency laws that continue to defy the recent Supreme Court ruling by continuing to restrict District of Columbia residents' right to self-defense. This NRA-backed bill is needed to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in .

UPDATE #3: The Hill - Pelosi opposes gun bill but may allow vote

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she personally opposes a bill loosening the District of Columbia’s gun laws, but that does not mean she will block it from coming to the floor.

“I want to see the particulars,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday. “Then we’ll see what comes to the floor or doesn’t come to the floor.”

The bill, designed to head off a showdown between the National Rifle Association and conservative House Democrats, was introduced Thursday, with roughly 50 Democratic co-sponsors, according to congressional sources.

...The deal was negotiated with the powerful gun-rights group by Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and John Tanner (D-Tenn.).

...NRA officials had threatened to use House members’ willingness to sign the discharge petition in its scoring for this year’s election. Conservative Democrats who didn’t sign it, most of them members of the Blue Dog Coalition, risked losing their “A-plus” ratings.

The compromise with the NRA is designed to remove pressure on Democrats to sign the discharge petition, which had 164 signatures as of Wednesday.