House Dems under pressure on D.C. gun bill

The Hill reports that the NRA is putting pressure on House Democrats to sign a discharge petition to bring a pending bill for a floor vote. The bill would fix some of the problems with the D.C. Council's newly enacted gun legislation in response to the Supreme Court's Heller decision.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) believes that the District government has been flouting the Supreme Court ruling. Souder spokesman Martin Green said the city has simply created a new exemption in its registration rules to allow for handguns in the home rather than repealing the ban. Among other problems, D.C. law, he said, still bans many pistols by deeming them to be machine guns.

“What the mayor and council is doing is not adhering to the majority opinion,” Green said. “They’re still trying to ban an entire class of firearms.”

So Souder earlier this month started taking the steps necessary to file a discharge petition, which allows a bill to go to the floor if 218 members sign on.

The bill, introduced last year by Ross and Souder, would eliminate gun registration, allow some handguns that are still banned and end criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm. But it’s never gotten out of committee.

Article here. The article notes that none of the 13 discharge petitions have succeeded since the Democrats took control in January 2007.