Norton Thanks White House for Defending D.C. Gun Laws from Rubio, Jordan

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) thanked the President after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded to a question today about a bill introduced yesterday by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) that would wipe out almost all of the D.C.'s local gun safety laws, including its ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines and its registration requirements, and would prohibit D.C. from passing gun safety laws in the future. Speaking for the President at a White House press briefing, Earnest said, "Gun laws that are made by the District of Columbia should be made by the District government," and that "home rule is important."

"Once again, the administration has taken a strong stand for the District of Columbia's right to democratic self-government," Norton said. "This radical bill that these two Republicans would impose on the District would make D.C. one of the most permissive gun jurisdictions against the will of our citizens and despite the federal presence and daily motorcades with high level federal officials and foreign dignitaries in our streets and public places. Senator Rubio and Representative Jordan have violated their often professed local control principles, and this bill does not deserve the respect of the American people, for whom local democracy was and remains a founding principle."

A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of District's ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines, and a federal district court has upheld the city's gun registration requirements. Norton defeated every effort last Congress to block or overturn D.C.'s gun laws, including a House-passed amendment to the fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill that would have blocked D.C. from spending its local funds to enforce its local gun laws.