Local
Council OKs final gun bill
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
December 17, 2008
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| The D.C. Council voted to continue the city’s 25 year relationship with Lottery Technology Enterprises on Tuesday. (Examiner File) |
The bill requires four hours of classroom training and one hour of range training prior to initial registration. It mandates re-registration of a handgun every three years. And it bars convicted felons, twice-convicted drunken drivers and mentally unstable individuals prone to violence from registering firearms for up to 10 years.
A provision requiring annual recertification was omitted from the final version.
“This bill will be, I think, one of the most progressive registration laws in the country,” Councilman Phil Mendelson said.
Gun rights advocates, meanwhile, promised legal challenges against D.C.’s “onerous” registration requirements.
“Until the day comes that you can walk into a gun shop in D.C. and buy a gun like everybody else, we’re not going to stop,” said Dane von Breichenruchardt, president of the Bill of Rights Foundation, which backed Dick Heller in his successful U.S. Supreme Court fight against the D.C. handgun ban.
Also on Tuesday, council members rejected a six-year deal with a new lottery manager.
The council, by an 8-5 vote, continued the city’s 25-year relationship with Lottery Technology Enterprises and its local president, Leonard Manning. On the table was a well-vetted deal with W2I — a partnership of D.C. businessman Warren Williams Sr., his children and Greek lottery giant Intralot.
At stake, W2I backers claimed, was the quality of the city’s gambling system and the sanctity of the government’s procurement process. The $120 million bid from W2I was a win-win, proponents said: The firm pledged to modernize the lottery and its technical infrastructure for about $5 million less than what LTE charges.
“All I know is we had a competitive process,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh. “One side put forth a better proposal.”
LTE has been fined nearly $1.8 million over two years for a series of system failures and security breaches.
