In March 2007, Democrats withdrew a bill granting voting rights to the District rather than allow Republicans a vote on attaching a similar gun bill, for fear that the attempt would pass.
Democratic leaders deflected political fallout from the Supreme Court decision by muting their reaction. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the decision “left a lot of room to run” for local governments. Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he agreed that the Constitution gives people the right to own guns, but said they’re still subject to regulation.
There have been 13 discharge petitions filed since Democrats took control of the House in 2007. None have succeeded and only one – an immigration bill that emphasizes enforcement – is well-known. Ten Democrats have signed onto that petition.
The Republican discharge effort on guns is a follow-up to the 5-4 Supreme Court decision in June that threw out the District’s decades-old ban on handguns.
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.
Gun control advocates say Republicans and the NRA are overreaching to get more political mileage out of the Supreme Court decision.
“The other side has said it’s about gun bans, and taking away your guns,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “They no longer need to do that because the court said it’s an individual right.”
The last time the NRA scored a discharge petition was in 1986, when the House passed legislation by Rep. Harold Volkmer (D-Mo.) and Sen. James McClure (R-Idaho) to loosen a range of federal gun laws.
Many of the NRA’s 4 million members use the rankings, distributed in NRA magazines in October, to decide their vote. They’re done as letter grades, and are published in copies of the NRA’s different publications.
They are also used by the NRA’s political action committee in deciding which candidates to endorse.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she will urge members to reject the discharge petition, since District officials are working to comply with the ban.
“It’s tragic to see Congress take any time on a local gun matter already under the jurisdiction of the federal courts because some can’t wait to get more guns in our city,” Norton said in a statement.
District officials say they’re not familiar with the discharge petition, but see little reason to be concerned.
“We’re confident that Congress will leave local laws in the hands of local governments,” said Dena Iverson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian Fenty.
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