Norton Blasts Representative Schweikert, Latest Republican to Launch Attack on D.C. Gun Safety Laws
WASHINGTON, D.C.—After successfully pushing back four attempts to overturn the District of Columbia's gun safety laws last year, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said the most recent Republican to take on D.C.'s gun laws "must not have gotten the memo." Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) yesterday introduced a bill to force D.C. to recognize out-of-state permits to carry concealed guns, regardless of the standards those states use for issuing permits. The District currently requires a carry permit applicant to demonstrate a "good reason" for carrying. Norton said most challenges to carrying requirements similar to D.C.'s have been upheld by federal appeals courts, and that Schweikert's bill is a political stunt meant to appeal to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the pro-gun lobby.
Schweikert's bill is the latest Republican effort in the 114th Congress to overturn D.C.'s gun laws. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) introduced a bill 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 prohibit D.C. from passing gun laws in the future. Norton said Rubio's motive for introducing his bill was undisguised. The NRA raised his rating from a B-plus to an A almost immediately after he introduced his anti-local-control gun bill. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced an amendment to eliminate D.C.'s gun laws to the Senate's budget reconciliation bill, which failed, and then introduced it as a standalone bill, which has not been brought to the Senate floor.
"While the nation seeks to come together to find common-sense steps to reduce gun violence, Rep. David Schweikert has reached beyond his own district to meddle in mine," Norton said. "Allowing more concealed guns on the streets of the nation's capital, which is frequented not only by our residents, but also by high-level federal officials and foreign dignitaries, would be insane. Under constitutional principles of local control in our country, each district must decide local matters for themselves, not federal officials. I do not think Rep. Schweikert's constituents sent him to Washington to interfere with the local prerogatives of someone else's district, and I doubt that this bill is a priority for his constituents. Maintaining our local carry permit law is a priority for me, and I am prepared to defeat this anti-home-rule bill and protect D.C.'s narrowly tailored carry law in order to keep our residents safe."