A U.S. House panel on Wednesday approved legislation requiring the D.C. government to establish gun laws that comply with the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the District’s handgun ban.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the bill “respects the right of the District to write its own gun laws.” The measure was introduced by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The panel’s 21-1 vote may be for naught: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly struck a deal with conservative Democrats to replace the language of Norton’s bill with that of a National Rifle Association-backed measure.
That measure would repeal the District’s ban on semiautomatic weapons, prohibit rules that “unduly burden” the possession or use of a firearm, and abolish registration requirements.
