Norton Calls on Rubio to Withdraw His D.C. Gun Bill Allowing 18 Year Olds to Purchase Assault Rifles in Light of His New-Found Support for Raising Purchasing Age

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who says he now supports a ban on the purchase of rifles by an individual under the age of 21, has a pending District of Columbia gun bill that would permit individuals in the District under the age of 21 to purchase assault rifles. Rubio's bill would repeal almost all of D.C.'s gun safety laws, including its bans on guns in schools and large capacity magazines, and its registration requirements.

"After the Parkland shooting, followed by national backlash against the country's permissive gun laws, Senator Rubio has been forced to walk back some of his extreme pro-gun positions," Norton said. "However, the overwhelming majority of Americans who want new gun safety laws need to judge Senator Rubio's credibility by his pending D.C. gun bill, which would wipe out most of the District's gun laws, including a law he says he now supports nationally. Make no mistake: Senator Rubio's D.C. gun bill would have allowed the Parkland shooter to purchase an AR-15 in the nation's capital. Senator Rubio says he now opposes the National Rifle Association on age requirements. We call on him to withdraw his NRA-drafted D.C. gun bill."

At last Wednesday's CNN town hall on the Parkland shooting, Rubio said: "I absolutely believe that in this country, if you are 18 years of age, you should not be able to buy a rifle, and I will support a law that takes that right away."

A version of the Rubio bill, which is sponsored in the House by Representative Tom Garrett (R-VA), has been introduced for more than a decade, but Norton has kept it from being enacted. Rubio first introduced the bill in 2015, just before announcing his candidacy for president, and, upon filing his bill, the NRA upgraded Rubio's rating from a B-plus to an A.

The bill, which would eliminate most D.C. gun laws, including the ban on guns in schools, has two specific provisions dealing with guns in schools. First, the bill would prohibit the District from banning guns in D.C. public schools unless a school "has implemented security measures (including guard posts, metal detection devices, x-ray or other scanning devices, or card-based or biometric access devices) to identify and exclude unauthorized or hazardous persons or articles…." Some D.C. public schools may not meet this standard and, therefore, people with concealed carry licenses would be allowed to carry guns in such schools.

Second, the bill would create a unique exception to the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act for D.C. schools. That act prohibits the possession of a gun in a school unless the person carrying is licensed to carry in the state in which the school is located. However, under the Rubio-Garrett bill, a person licensed outside D.C., no matter how lax that state's requirements, would not be prohibited from carrying in a D.C. school.

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has introduced a bill that would require D.C. to recognize out-of-state concealed carry permits, regardless of the state's carry requirements. Norton has defeated similar bills for several years.