Metro Briefs: DC leaders try to stop new gun bill

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that she appreciated the letters D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) expressing his strong opposition to the new D.C. gun bill. In his letters, the mayor said the gun bill would undermine the rights and safety of District residents. Norton delayed the D.C. House Voting Rights Act (DCVRA), which had more than enough votes for passage, after the National Rifle Association (NRA) 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, and a stand-alone bill has now been introduced by Representative Travis Childers (D-MS) and Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and John McCain (R-AZ). Norton has arranged for families of victims of the recent mass drive-by shooting in D.C. to meet with Representative Hoyer and the large coalition that fought for the DCVRA has now re-directed its energy to stopping the new gun bill.

The new gun bill considerably raises the stakes with provisions that are far more dangerous than the version included in the Senate-passed DCVRA.

A few of the stipulations included in 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) 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; (5) repeal D.C.'s gun registration requirements; (6) repeal D.C.'s limitation on the number of handguns that can be purchased per month; (7) reduce penalties if a child is injured by a negligently stored gun and repeal other gun safety features; (8) repeal D.C.'s 10-day waiting period to buy handguns and rifles (there would only be a 48-hour waiting period for handguns).

On the Net: www.norton.house.gov