CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
March 5, 2009 – 9:38 p.m.
NRA Notches Victory After House Postpones District Voting Rights Bill
By Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff
The National Rifle Association’s push to roll back the District of Columbia’s semi-automatic weapons ban has halted momentum for giving a full House voting member to Washington, less than a week after backers celebrated what they called a “historic” Senate vote.
“We might be checkmated,” said a senior House Democratic aide, referring to efforts to adopt a rule on the floor that would restrict amendments to the voting rights bill (
For now, House Democratic leaders will say only that there is a chance that the District voting rights bill will come up next week, but aides said there is no sign of an agreement to allow floor action to proceed.
Democrats control the House and Senate by hefty margins, but the NRA has been emboldened by electoral victories by gun-rights allies in both chambers and has made clear to the majority party that it wants to roll back the District’s semi-automatic weapons ban this year, rather that settling for symbolic votes.
“The NRA feels it can win. It thinks it has the votes,’’ said Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
Tough tactics helped the NRA notch a clear-cut victory this week when House leaders postponed consideration of the bill to give a seat with full voting rights to the District and create another seat that initially would go to Utah.
Senior aides in both parties said the NRA signaled it could potentially oppose a rule for the measure unless Democratic leaders allow a vote on an amendment by Travis W. Childers , D-Miss., that would overturn the semi-automatic ban, bar the city’s registration requirements for most guns and drop criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm in the District.
Childers pushed a similar measure that passed last year, 266-152, after the Supreme Court voided the city’s handgun ban and the District adopted new gun regulations. “A lot of people agree this is an important issue,” Childers said. Last year, 82 other Democrats backed his measure.
The Senate raised the stakes last week by adopting, 62-36, an amendment similar to Childers’ in its version of the District voting rights bill (
The Senate passed the amended bill, 61-37; its supporters were optimistic they could remove the gun language in a conference committee.
But the House Rules Committee put off action on that chamber’s legislation March 3 amid concerns that Democratic leaders lacked the votes to move a rule that was expected to exclude amendments that are opposed by city leaders.
With the measure in limbo, Chris W. Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said his group had not decided whether to use the procedural votes in determining scores for representatives. “It’s one of the options. We will not rule out any of our options,” Cox said.
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., has said that the timing for the bill was unclear. “We’ll get to it as soon as we can pass it,” he said.
“It’s disappointing that the leadership has pulled the bill,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “It shows who runs things around here: the NRA.”
Cox had no comment on the NRA’s plans for moving on other priorities. But the NRA appears to be on a roll in the new session.
For example, it quietly won another victory in the fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill (
The gun-rights advocacy group also has been working behind the scenes to prevent the renewal of the federal semi-automatic weapons ban (PL 103-322) that expired in 2004.
Comments
The NRA should stick a feather in its cap for the violence in Mexico while they're at it. U.S. gun shop owners are arming the drug lords with big guns.
To:AmiBlue Possibly the most uninformed remark I've seen on one of these comment sections. The weapons shown on the news clips from the border were full-auto weapons. They aren't available in the U.S. without an FFL. And how is it that two of the worst cities, Chicago and D.C., just happen to have the most restrictive gun laws? ElPaso,TX with one of the highst per capita gun ownership in the country also is the safest. Just across the border in Ciudad Juarez where there is a total ban on civilian gun ownership there were in excess of 1600 homicides. Check your facts before you post.
Wow, AmiBlue, what news agency did you read and regurgitate that from? Way to think for yourself and research actual facts before posting ignorant comments. We should award you the mouthpiece for the ignorant award. And yeah your right, inanimate objects are running around lose in Mexico killing people and causing the violence down there. Have you ever purchased a firearm? Do you own any? Do you work for the BATFE? Do you work at a gun store in the U.S.? Perhaps you could share where all of your expertise hails from on the subject. Yeah, thought so....stick to entertain yourself by playing forehead vs. wall.
DC doesn't deserve a representative. DC was specifically created without one. Don't like that? Don't live there.
Love your comment, Jonj
It's not a victory for the NRA, it's support for the US Supreme Court's Heller decision. DC has still not complied with the ruling and should be forced to do so.
Actually, the criminals flowing across the border and back- even if empty handed, is an ALARM TO CONGRES TO CLOSE THE BORDER NOW- not commit MORE treason against the oath of office and our freedom by attacking our rights to self-defense!! Idiots- evil GD idiots....
Amiblue, Australia just destroyed all the guns from the law abiding citizens and now have a huge increase. It began like now. First national registration with threats of hefty fines/jails terms for any violation involving missed paperwork. We can't even keep robbers in jail. Then the confiscation takes place. Then the crimes takes place. Do you not get it that criminals will not turn in their weapons and that they get very few from stealing guns from law abiding gun owners? With our economy in serious trouble, tell me that you will enjoy a home invasion and no way to defend yourself. Even people I know personally that have shied away from gun ownership see the potential for anachy in this country and are buying guns and getting training.
When you refer to the DEMOCRATIC Party, is that like the People's Democratic Republic of China? What makes the Democrat Party the only DEMOCRATIC Party in this nation? Consider how, at every opportunity, they seek ever greater control over American economics, health insurance, retirement, education; how they castigate anyone who dares to disagree with them or to question them. Listen to Rush, fight to keep your own money, refuse to send your children to public school, admit that you own guns -- and you might as well admit that you practice witchcraft. Look out! Here come the Brown Shirts of the Democrat Party to hound you, accuse you, vilify you, threaten you -- just like in the good old days of Salem, Massachusetts! Hmmm...Massachusetts: The Colony, cum State, which began the American Revolution, now the hotbed of burgeoning Communism, foisted on the rest of this nation by His Eminence, Ted Kennedy, the most DEMOCRATIC Senator of them all.
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