Norton Says That Today’s Court Decision Upholding D.C.’s Main Gun Safety Laws Should Signal to Republicans That D.C.’s Gun Safety Laws Are Valid

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decisions in 2011 and today upholding the constitutionality of almost all of D.C.'s major gun safety laws should put an end to congressional effort to repeal them. The appeals court has upheld the District's registration requirements for all guns, its ban on assault weapons and its ban on large capacity magazines. Norton said she was disappointed, however, that the court struck down D.C.'s prohibition on a person registering more than one handgun during a 30-day period, and said she believes that requirement is perfectly reasonable to combat gun trafficking. So does U.S. Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, a George W. Bush appointee, who said in her opinion dissenting in part today that she would have upheld all 10 of the gun laws before the court. Judge Henderson said: "[T]he District of Columbia is sui generis….[T]he District is the seat of our national government. The record amply documents the unique security risks presented by a city full of high-level government officials, diplomats, monuments, parades, protests and demonstrations, and, perhaps most pertinent, countless government buildings where citizens are almost universally prohibited from possessing firearms."

"The court has once again upheld the core of D.C.'s gun safety laws," Norton said. "It was particularly important that Judge Henderson said in her opinion that the District is unique with the constant presence of high-level federal officials and foreign dignitaries in our streets and public places. Our city has made clear that it wants strong gun safety laws to protect the safety of our citizens as well, but, like Judge Henderson points out, we have always noted our unique vulnerability as the nation's capital. We have kept bills introduced by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) to overturn nearly all of our city's gun safety laws from reaching the floor of either chamber, and in this decision, the Court of Appeals here says opponents of D.C.'s core gun safety laws are wrong about their constitutionality."

Today's ruling upheld the constitutionality of D.C.'s requirements that long guns be registered, that registrants be photographed and fingerprinted and make a personal appearance to register, that registrants pay a fee, and that registrants complete a firearm safety and training course.