Senate legislation would restore DC gun rights.

[Irish]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lo...-92262559.html

Senate legislation aims at stripping District gun laws
By: Hayley Peterson
Examiner Staff
April 27, 2010


Sen. John McCain and another U.S. senator on Tuesday introduced a bill that would strip the District of most of its gun laws, one week after the House of Representatives abandoned a D.C. voting bill because similar gun provisions were attached.

McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., have sponsored the Second Amendment Enforcement Act, which would repeal the District's gun registration requirements and allow D.C. residents to purchase ammunition from outside the city. The bill also would restrict the D.C. Council's power to regulate firearms, by putting under federal control the city's laws on semiautomatic weapons and gun storage.

McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., have sponsored the Second Amendment Enforcement Act, which would lift the District's ban on semiautomatic weapons and revoke the mandate that guns be stored unloaded and disassembled. The bill also would repeal registration requirements and allow District residents to purchase ammunition across state borders.

McCain and Tester say the bill would rectify the District's gun laws to comply with a 2008 Supreme Court decision in D.C. v. Heller.

Similar gun provisions killed a House bill aimed at securing a congressional vote for D.C. last week.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., was set to introduce a D.C. voting rights bill last Wednesday with pared-down gun laws attached, but District lawmakers said they wouldn't accept the amendment.

"The majority leader views [the Second Amendment Enforcement Act] as another move to impose policy on the District and ignore the rights of taxpaying citizens," Hoyer press secretary Stephanie Lundberg told the Washington Examiner.

Last year, the Senate passed D.C. voting rights legislation for the first time since 1978, but House leaders again shelved the measure because they couldn't block attached gun control provisions.

"It's a shame that this legislation is even necessary to restore rights that citizens of the District should already have the freedom to exercise," said Chris W. Cox of the National Rifle Association. He said the D.C. Council has "willfully disregarded" the Supreme Court's Heller decision.

"NRA remains committed to restoring the right to self-defense for law-abiding citizens in Washington, D.C., by whatever legal or legislative means necessary," Cox said.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's nonvoting member of Congress, said she is "not surprised" by the new measure.

"This looks exactly like the bill that was going to be attached to the [D.C. Voting Rights Act] last week," she said. "I warned the city that pulling the voting rights bill would not come close to saving D.C.'s gun laws."

[Irish]

http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/23026/

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers (MS-01) joined Rep. Mark Souder (IN -03) in introducing critical legislation to restore Second Amendment rights to residents of the District of Columbia. This legislation is a response to the D.C. Council continuing to circumvent the Supreme Court’s historic 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. Companion legislation is being introduced in the Senate by Sens. John McCain (AZ) and Jon Tester (MT).

“I’m proud to join Rep. Mark Souder in introducing bipartisan legislation essential to protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” said Congressman Childers. “I was disappointed that this legislation was pulled from the floor schedule last week, but today’s introduction marks an important step toward restoring D.C. citizens’ right to bear arms, and safeguarding the right of all Americans to defend themselves and their families. I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect this fundamental American right.”

“It’s a shame that this legislation is even necessary to restore rights that citizens of the District should already have the freedom to exercise,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. “We are grateful that a bipartisan group of members of Congress led by Senators McCain and Tester, and Congressmen Childers and Souder, have taken this significant step to require the D.C. Council to abide by the Heller decision and allow law-abiding citizens in D.C. to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Today’s legislation seeks to secure for District residents the rights reinforced by the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller. The legislation would repeal D.C.'s ban on many common semi-automatic firearms, restore the right of self-defense in the home, authorize purchases of firearms and ammunition by D.C. residents, repeal the District's burdensome gun registration requirement and ensure that firearms may be transported and carried for legitimate purposes.

The legislation introduced today is similar to the Ensign Amendment adopted by the Senate in 2009, and to the Childers Amendment that passed the House in 2008. Both measures passed their respective chambers with broad bipartisan majorities.

[Magic_Salad0892]

Would this have anything to do with owning NFA items in D.C.?

I like this law. Even if I don't like McCain, I like this.

[Buckaroo]

"The majority leader views [the Second Amendment Enforcement Act] as another move to impose policy on the District and ignore the rights of taxpaying citizens," Hoyer press secretary Stephanie Lundberg told the Washington Examiner.

What?! Really? Seems to me that this would recognize the rights of citizens.

Hoyer must have forgotten everything he learned in civics class.

Buckaroo

[Irish]

What?! Really? Seems to me that this would recognize the rights of citizens.

Hoyer must have forgotten everything he learned in civics class.

Buckaroo

I read the quoted statement above and think the exact opposite. It looks like it would be recognizing tax paying citizen's rights.

[Buckaroo]

I read the quoted statement above and think the exact opposite. It looks like it would be recognizing tax paying citizen's rights.

So we agree then, right?

Buckaroo

[Irish]

So we agree then, right?

Buckaroo

I do believe... kinda hard surfing M4C on a phone... waiting to meet with client and no computer right now.

[Irish]

A couple more articles:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/28/mccain-dc-guns/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonath..._b_555503.html