The prospect of the District dabbling in gun sales was sidestepped for now after the D.C. Council dropped a bill Tuesday that would have made the city a federal firearms licensee. The bill called on the mayor to appoint an agency to act as the middleman for residents attempting to bring legally purchased handguns into the district. The only federal firearms licensee in the District, Charles Sykes, closed shop in April, creating a de facto ban on handguns.

D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson pulled the bill off the table in the afternoon, citing the mayor’s new efforts to find a home for Sykes’ business.