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D.C. appeals ruling overturning
city handgun ban
Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Monday April 9, 2007
The U.S. capital city was back in court on Monday trying to save
its 30-year-old ban on residents owning handguns.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
ruled last month, by a 2-1 vote, that the law violated an individual's
right to bear arms under the Constitution's Second Amendment.
The city, once dubbed the U.S. murder capital because of its leading
homicide rate, asked the full panel of appeals court judges to reconsider
the ruling. It argued the decision incorrectly interpreted the amendment
and violated precedents set by the U.S. Supreme Court and other
federal courts.
"If the panel majority's holding remains unchanged, it will
severely limit the authority of both the District government and
Congress to legislate in ways that they believe will best protect
citizens and law-enforcement officers from gun violence and ultimately
save lives," the city said in its request.
The D.C. law included limited exceptions for handgun ownership,
such as by retired police officers, but the appeals court also struck
down the restriction that prevented the guns from being moved from
room to room in one's own house.
The court also overturned the restriction that registered firearms
must be kept unloaded and either disassembled or safeguarded with
a trigger lock. D.C. law does allow individuals to own most kinds
of shotguns and rifles if they are registered.
No appeals court has struck down a gun control law based on the
Second Amendment before this decision, the city said.
The amendment states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary
to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep
and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Lawyers for the city say the amendment guarantees the right to
bear arms only for members of a militia, like today's National Guard,
and not for individuals.
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty has vowed to enforce the ban while
the city pursues its appeal. Police have recovered 581 firearms
so far this year and more than 2,600 last year, according to city
statistics.
"It's regrettable that D.C. continues not to trust law-abiding
citizens with firearms unlike every other state in the country,"
said Clark Neily, a lawyer representing the residents who challenged
the law.
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