New Attack on D.C. Gun Laws the Day Before D.C. Abortion Ban Hearing

Washington, D.C.—The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that Norton will seek time on the House Floor to oppose an amendment, if it is made in order, to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (H.R. 4310) filed by Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA) that targets the gun laws of only one jurisdiction, the District of Columbia. Although the Gingrey amendment would be non-binding, it expresses the sense of Congress that active duty military personnel in the District, while in their private capacities, should be exempt from all D.C. gun laws. However, it does not call for such personnel to be exempt from the gun laws of any other jurisdiction. The Rules Committee will consider the Gingrey amendment today, May 16, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in H-313, The Capitol, the day before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution holds a hearing on a bill (H.R. 3803), sponsored by Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ), that would ban abortion in only one jurisdiction, the District of Columbia. "Like the upcoming D.C. abortion ban hearing, the Gingrey amendment reminds us that many Republicans who claim to support federalism leave their principles at the District's borders," Norton said. "Although the amendment is non-binding, we will fight every attack on our rights as a local government. The amendment does nothing less than pave the way for actual inroads into the District's gun safety laws. Republicans have spent this week bullying D.C., instead of focusing on jobs, and our allies have spent the week fighting back equally as hard."

The Gingrey amendment represents the third attack this Congress on D.C.'s gun safety laws. In November 2011, Norton scored a victory for D.C. home rule and public safety when the House Judiciary Committee defeated, by a vote of 3-24, an amendment offered by Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) that would have allowed people with any state-issued concealed carry permit to carry concealed guns in the District. The amendment was offered to the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011 (H.R. 822), which would allow people with concealed carry permits to carry concealed guns in any jurisdiction that allows concealed carry, but not in jurisdictions that prohibit concealed carry. However, the amendment would have created a unique exception to allow people with state-issued permits to carry concealed guns in D.C., even though D.C. law prohibits carrying concealed guns. Furthermore, despite the fact that a federal district court and a federal appeals court have upheld the constitutionality of the District's post-Heller gun laws, the National Rifle Association-backed D.C. gun bill (H.R. 645), which would eliminate D.C.'s gun safety laws and which forced Norton to pull the D.C. House Voting Rights Act from the House floor last Congress, was reintroduced this Congress and now has 173 cosponsors. As Congress begins the fiscal year 2013 appropriations process, Norton and her allies are preparing to defeat any effort to attach the D.C. gun bill to the D.C. appropriations bill.

Published: May 16, 2012