By Seth Stern, CQ Staff

In a victory for gun-rights advocates, the House passed legislation Wednesday that would broadly roll back District of Columbia gun laws.

Lawmakers voted, 260-160, to amend narrower legislation (HR 6842) by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton , D-D.C., with a substitute amendment by Travis W. Childers, D-Miss., drawn from his broader measure (HR 6691). Eighty-two Democrats backed Childers in a vote that was a victory for the National Rifle Association (NRA), while nine Republicans voted against his amendment.

The amended bill passed, 266-152.

The measure is not expected to advance any further. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein has already vowed to block the legislation in the Senate and Democratic leadership aides in that chamber say there is unlikely to be floor time for it.

After the vote, Norton said, “I am very pleased that this bill will have multiple holds on it as it hits the Senate, and many other efforts are under way by our friends in the Senate to assure that the bill dies.”

The adoption of the broader rollback is a defeat for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., who scheduled a vote on the bill after it became clear that a bipartisan majority of gun-rights lawmakers were ready to back a discharge petition to force the issue.

Norton was able to engineer a rule for floor debate whereby her narrower bill was the vehicle. Norton’s measure simply would have required the District to revise its laws “as necessary to comply” with the Supreme Court’s June decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which voided the city’s handgun ban.

But she was otherwise powerless in the face of NRA pressure and her leadership’s desire to protect conservative Democrats in close re-election contests.

Childers’ bill would repeal a ban on semiautomatic weapons, bar registration requirements for most guns and drop criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm.

Proponents argue the measure is needed to force the District to comply with the Supreme Court decision. They say the city government, which passed an initial set of temporary regulations in July and another set Sept. 16, is not respecting the ruling.

David R. Obey , D-Wis., who says he supports the court’s decision but opposes interfering with D.C.’s home rule, voted “present” during both votes.

The temporary regulations approved unanimously by the D.C. Council would repeal a ban on semiautomatic weapons and safe-storage requirements for firearms. Council members are also working on permanent regulations.

The Bush administration said Sept. 16 that it supports Childers’ version.