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.