The District of Columbia can bar residents from owning assault weapons and require them to register their handguns without violating the Second Amendment, but the city must explain further why its numerous handgun registration requirements are necessary, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals did not strike down any of the district’s gun laws, which were approved after a landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision that struck down a 32-year-old handgun ban in the nation’s capital. However, the court said the district must show “an important or substantial government interest” in maintaining what the court deemed the district’s “novel” registration requirements. – AP
