A new, narrower D.C. gun law

Trying to head off a national takeover by Congress of the city’s powers to control guns in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling, the Washington, D.C., City Council on Wednesday adopted a new and narrower law to restrict possession of handguns.  Even as Congress was considering a bill that would largely strip the city of authority to deal with this subject, the local legislature enacted and the mayor signed a new city law.  (A news release about the measure can be found here, and the text of the new legislation is here,)

Although the House of Representatives on Wednesday did pass the takeover measure (H.R. 6842) by a vote of 266-152, the bill faces strong resistance in the Senate.  Thus, at least for the near future, it appears that gun rights in the District will be only those allowed in the new local legislation.

Gun rights advocates in the House and outside were upset by the City Council’s first measure adopted after the Supreme Court in District of Coumbia v. Heller established a Second Amendment right to have a gun for self-defense in one’s home.  Local advocates of gun ownership began a lawsuit to challenge that measure, and members of the House began an effort to overturn it, leading to Wednesday’s vote.

The city’s new Second Firearms Control Emergency Amendment Act went into effect immediately after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed it.  The new law replaces the one adopted in July.  Like the first measure, it will remain in effect for only 90 days — the limit for emergency laws in the city.  A more permanent measure is expected to be considered later.

Among the key differences were these:

** The new measure allows registration of some semi-automatic pistols; the early measure did not.   The city continues to ban automatic weapons, such as machine guns. 

** The new version drops a mandatory requirement that any gun kept at home be disassembled or have a trigger lock, and simply says that such safeguards are only the city’s policy preference. But it adds a new provision that no one may store a loaded gun at home if a minor is likely to gain access to it without permission, unless the weapon is locked in a box or some other “secure” place.

** The new law drops a provision that a gun kept at home need not be disassembled or locked if the gun was “being used to protedt against a reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm” to someone in the home. In place of that, it simply allows a person to register a pistol “for use in self-defense within that person’s home.”

** The new law relaxes restrictions on when a registered pistol can be carried without a license to carry.