HR 6691 update

The House will vote next month on HR 6691, the bill that would restore many of the currently denied 2nd Amendment rights to the District of Columbia.

From my previous linked post, here is an update on what HR 6691 will do for residents of Washington, DC:

• Repeal the District's ban on semi-automatic handguns. Semi-automatic pistols have been the most commonly purchased handguns in the United States over the last 20 years, and therefore a ban on those firearms is unconstitutional as decided by Heller;

• Restore the right of self-defense by repealing the requirement that firearms be disassembled or secured with a trigger lock in the home;

• Repeal the current D.C. registration system that requires multiple visits to police headquarters; ballistics testing; passing a written test on D.C. gun laws; fingerprinting; and limiting registration to one handgun per 90 days. The current system is unduly burdensome and serves as a vehicle for even more onerous restrictions; and

• Create a limited exemption to the federal ban on interstate handgun sales by allowing D.C. residents to purchase handguns in Virginia and Maryland. Currently there are no firearms dealers in the District of Columbia, and the federal ban prohibits residents from purchasing handguns outside of the District; therefore, District residents have no means of purchasing handguns.

Please contact your representatives today and urge them to support this bill. I don't want to sound like a campaign commercial and repeat myself a lot, but this is an important piece of legislation with bi-partisan support. While I'd much prefer to see Mayor Fenty tossed in jail for depriving people of their civil rights under the color of law, I'll settle for a Congressional smackdown being placed on his administration, which continues to defy the laws of our land.

You can locate and write your elected officials by using this link from NRA, I wrote Dan Burton last week and I'm saddling up to write him another letter today.