Norton Appreciates Gray's Letter to Leadership Opposing D.C.'s Gun Bill (6/30/2010)
Norton Appreciates Gray's Letter to Congressional Leadership Opposing D.C. Gun Bill June 30, 2010 WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who is trying to protect the District's gun laws from a National Rifle Association (NRA) gun bill, said today that she appreciates a letter from District of Columbia City Council Chairman Vincent Gray sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) expressing his strong opposition to the stand-alone D.C. gun bill. In his letter, Gray said that the Second Amendment Enforcement Act, introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) and Representative Travis Childers (D-MS), would create a dangerous environment for the city and its residents and would lead to the proliferation of guns on D.C. streets. Gray emphasized that the District's elected officials, not Members of Congress from other jurisdictions, know best how to ensure public safety in the District. Norton delayed the D.C. House Voting Rights Act (DCVRA), which had more than enough votes for passage, after the NRA reached beyond the gun amendment in the Senate-passed DCVRA and attempted to attach a new and even more dangerous gun amendment to the bill. Norton warned at the time that the NRA would still try to get its amendment passed by introducing it as a stand-alone bill. Norton said that Monday's Second Amendment Supreme Court decision appears to vindicate and to sanction gun laws like the District's new and revised gun laws. She cited the Court's language that the Second Amendment does not confer "the right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose," as well as examples of permissible gun regulations listed in the opinion that are also found in the District's new gun laws. "None of my colleagues in Congress would ever tolerate interference with their local laws by other Members of Congress, regardless of the reason," Norton said. "I ask for the same respect." The new gun bill considerably raises the stakes with provisions that are far more dangerous than those included in the Senate-passed DCVRA. The Second Amendment Enforcement Act would: (1) permit D.C. to regulate, but not prohibit, the carrying of guns in public, openly or concealed; (2) bar D.C. from prohibiting guns in District owned and controlled buildings and structures that do not have certain security measures in place, among them elementary schools and recreation centers; (3) prohibit residential and commercial property owners, as well as the District government, from banning tenants from bringing guns onto their property; (4) prevent D.C. from making changes to its gun laws in the future; (5) repeal D.C.'s ban on assault weapons, including .50 caliber rifles; (6) create the only exception to federal law by permitting D.C. residents to make handgun purchases in person across state lines, in this case in Maryland and Virginia; (7) repeal D.C.'s gun registration requirements; (8) repeal D.C.'s limitation on the number of handguns that can be purchased per month; (9) reduce penalties if a child is injured by a negligently stored gun and repeal other gun safety features; (10) repeal D.C.'s 10-day waiting period to buy handguns and rifles (there would only be a 48-hour waiting period for handguns); (11) repeal D.C.'s gun training requirements; (12) repeal D.C.'s categories of prohibited possessors, including a person who was involuntarily committed to a mental institution; and (13) repeal D.C.'s ban on large capacity ammunition feeding devices. |