The U.S. Senate essentially closed the door on the D.C. gun rights bill when a handful of members objected to the measure, forcing it into a legislative process it likely can’t survive before the chamber adjourns this week.
The bill, which passed the House on Sept. 17 by a 266 to 152 vote, would wipe out D.C.’s ban on semiautomatic weapons, its registration procedures, and laws barring District residents from buying handguns in Maryland and Virginia.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, on Thursday asked for unanimous consent to bring the bill to the Senate floor. But 12 Democrats objected.
“To come here and say that we are going to write the D.C. gun law, we are going to decide the safety of 600,000 people and every visitor to this city, is plain wrong,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.
Several Democrats have promised to filibuster if the bill reaches the Senate floor, and nine senators are said to have holds on the legislation.
A dozen Democrats asked Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a Sept. 22 letter to refer the bill to committee. Hutchinson and 47 colleagues urged Reid in a Sept. 19 letter to send the bill to the floor.
“It is entirely within the role of Congress to address an issue where a city is not protecting the constitutional rights of its constituents, over which the Congress has the authority,” Hutchinson said.
The measure was introduced in the House by conservative Democrats who said the District was refusing to conform with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the city’s handgun ban.
D.C. leaders adopted emergency rules on Sept. 16 to comply with the high court ruling, while counting on D.C.-friendly senators to kill the House legislation.
“My understanding is that, for all intents and purposes, it is [dead],” D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson said Friday.
