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D.C. passes gun law, but House looms

Congress considers limiting city authority

By David C. Lipscomb | Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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The D.C. Council approved emergency legislation Tuesday that would legalize semi-automatic handguns in the District and ease storage requirements for gun owners, while the Democrat-led Congress took steps to trump the city's home-rule authority and set its own terms for relaxed gun ownership in the nation's capital.

The race to comply with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that struck down the District's handgun ban proceeded on parallel tracks, driven in part by election-year desires by congressional lawmakers from both parties to show they support gun rights.

The council passed its bill by unanimous voice vote just minutes before Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's congressional representative, testified in the House against a federal law that would further relax gun control in the District and limit city officials' ability to regulate guns.

Mrs. Norton, a Democrat, pleaded with the House to vote against the bill, saying that the D.C. Council legislation was crafted in a way to satisfy gun advocates and that many House members were "dismayed and angered" that Congress was considering "one of the most permissive [gun] laws in the country post 9/11."

She called the bill a "threat to the federal presence" based on testimony last week from U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Park Police and Metropolitan Police that the law would endanger federal officials, including the president.

The District v. Heller Supreme Court decision in June struck down the city's 32-year-old ban on handguns but has raised a host of new issues about gun rights and safety.

The District crafted its law in part to stave off the House bill, which would take away the council's authority over local gun control, and to forestall a second federal lawsuit by Dick Anthony Heller that challenged temporary gun legislation enacted in July.

"I'm hopeful that the House will see that there's not much more to be done," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat. "I assume they're doing this thinking that we're being irresponsible. We're not."

Under the new D.C. law — effective for 180 days until permanent legislation is enacted — weapons that can fire more than 12 rounds without being reloaded are no longer considered machine guns. The previous definition effectively banned all semi-automatic weapons because magazines of virtually any capacity theoretically can be designed for them.

However, the law still caps magazine capacity at 10 rounds in an effort to ensure that criminals won't have greater firepower than police do. Those who wish to purchase guns manufactured to hold more rounds would have to buy magazines modified to hold no more than 10. Advocates said the new bill would still give law-abiding citizens sufficient rounds for self-defense.