Norton Says Bipartisan, Election-Year House Support for D.C.’s Gun Laws Will Help in Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – Following an analysis of yesterday's vote on the Massie amendment to prohibit the District of Columbia from enforcing local gun laws, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said she was "extremely pleased that Democrats strongly supported D.C.'s home rule right to protect our residents and grateful to the four Republicans who voted with us and against the grain of their colleagues." Democratic floor leaders agreed that it was remarkable that the vote on gun laws lost only twenty Democrats as midterm elections approach.

The twenty Democrats were mostly from deep red states and districts. Two Republicans from New York, Representatives Michael Grimm (R-NY) and Peter King (R-NY), and two Republicans from Pennsylvania, Representatives Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Patrick Meehan (R-PA), voted against the anti-home-rule gun amendment.

"The strong House Democratic vote, with bipartisan support from four Republicans who broke with their Caucus, is important as we look to the Senate and White House to help us protect the city's gun laws," Norton said. "Instead of considering a vote for D.C. guns as not worth the political risk, Democrats and Republicans from red and blue states and districts voted with D.C.

"Instead of treating D.C. gun safety laws differently from their own views on gun safety, Republicans applied the same principled standards to D.C.'s gun laws. Some of the Democrats and Republicans who voted with D.C. share our views on gun safety. Others strongly believe in the city's right to unimpeded local self-government. Their support could not turn the tide in the tea party-controlled Republican House, but it sent a strong message that the result in the House should not be allowed to stand."