Norton Goes After Another Gun Amendment (5/26/2010)

Norton Goes After Another Gun Amendment

May 26, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released her statement in opposition to an amendment that would exempt active duty military personnel from an old version of D.C.'s gun laws. Norton said that Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) is seeking to score political points with a non-existent issue relating to D.C.'s gun laws. The proposed amendment "purports to exempt active duty military personnel from a non-existent D.C. ban on the possession of handguns and an old requirement that rifles and shotguns in the home be kept unloaded and disassembled or outfitted with a trigger lock," Norton said, referring to H.R. 5136's Amendment 17, scheduled for consideration in the Rules Committee at about 1:30 p.m. today. The D.C. City Council has completely revised the District's gun laws to allow the possession of handguns, including semi-automatics, and allows guns to be kept in the home loaded, fully assembled and unlocked. In fact, a federal court has upheld D.C.'s new gun laws. Federal courts have since found the District's guns laws to be constitutional. The Congresswoman, who had to pull her signature D.C. House Voting Rights Act because of offensive anti-home rule gun amendments, is also working to block two stand-alone bills, introduced in the House and Senate earlier this month to accomplish the purposes of those gun amendments.

"It is difficult to understand the obsession by some members of Congress with a congressional district that is not their own. Worse, neither Mr. Gingrey, nor any other member of Congress, would tolerate interference with the local laws of their district. Neither will I," Norton said. "However, Mr. Gingrey's aim is transparent: to score political points at the expense of residents of the nation's capital."