An amendment attached to the D.C. House Voting Rights Act that would gut the District’s gun laws has remained a point of heated debate in recent weeks, and today Police Chief Cathy Lanier heads to the Hill to testify on the dangers it would pose to the city. She is scheduled to join a number of security officials in a hearing titled, “Disaster Capacity in the National Capital Region: Experiences, Capabilities, and Weaknesses,” being held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. The subcommittee is chaired by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and is meeting as of 10 a.m. in Room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building. You can also watch a live web cast of the hearing.

Lanier is a strident opponent of the amendment, which was introduced by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and successfully attached to the DCHVRA. For weeks, House Democrats have been grappling with threats from the NRA if they don’t also add their own version of the amendment, effectively stalling the bill’s passage.

Lanier testified against another bill that would have stripped the District’s gun laws in September, 2008. At that hearing, she opined that any such move would make it “far more difficult for MPD and Federal law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia to ensure safety and security in the Nation’s Capital.” (.PDF of full testimony here.) Expect to hear more of the same from the chief today. Fans of the Ensign amendment will counter that it would merely bring the District’s gun regulations in line with last summer’s Heller decision in the Supreme Court.

In related news, as Roll Call reported yesterday, a local law firm is claiming that the amendment is flawed and would even repeal gun regulations that exist in Ensign’s home state. In a legal memo prepared for voting rights advocacy organization DC Vote, lawyers at Patton Boggs argue that the District has complied with the Heller decision and lists a number of inconsistencies in Ensign’s amendment. They conclude, “The District of Columbia has modified its statutes to fully comply with the Heller decision and to allow its citizens to enjoy their Second Amendment rights. Through the Ensign Amendment, the Senate amends the outdated Firearms Registration Regulations Act of 1975…creating unnecessary duplication and legal inconsistencies.” A copy of the memo, in .PDF format, is here.